Twolight
by rainydayB
Summary: When Bella moved to Forks, she was not the only one who got caught up in the world of mythical creatures. That's right. Meet Bella's twin sister Verity. First story. T for now. Sorry for the wait.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything. All belongs to Stephenie Meyer_

**Verity's POV**

"Bella and Verity, hons, are you sure about this?" my mother asked me and my twin Bella, as she drove us to the Phoenix airport.

"Mom, don't worry about us. We WANT to go to Forks." Bella replied, putting on a false cheerful face. Renee didn't notice but I saw right through her. You see, me and Bella is as close as sisters can get.

When we were four, Mom decided that she had enough of Forks. It is a small rainy town and Renee absolutely loves the sun. Dad, who is the police chief of Forks, felt he had a responsibility and would even listen to the idea of moving. Renee eventually had enough so she packed our bags, and left dad. We've visited him during summer holidays but Bella really hates the rain, so the visits ceased.

"Yeah, besides, I'd like to eat my ice cream without it melted first, for a change." I pulled a face. Renee and Bella cracked up and the tension was lightened.

"Are you sure sweethearts? I just feel so guilty, I mean, first I took you away from your dad, and now I'm sending you guys back because of me! Are you-"

"Mom, relax, we understand it's not your fault." I said, trying to soothe her, and keep her from repeating the same speech again.

To be honest, I love the sun as much as Bella does. But ever since Renee met her new husband Phil, who is a baseball player, she had to divide her time between us and him. Phil has to move around a lot because of his job, and mom doesn't feel that it's fair for us to move around with her every season. Renee is happy to spent time with us, but misses Phil. It makes her unhappy. So Bella and I decided it's time to spend some quality time with dad.

We had arrived at the terminal. "Alright. Tell Charlie hi from me. I love you both. You'll always be welcome here." Renee hugged us both before she left.

"So, are you ready Bells?" I grinned at Bella, but it came out more as a grimace.

"As ready as you are." She replied.

Together we walked to our flight.

**********************************************************************

After we got off the plane and grabbed the four suitcases we owned. We have two each. I filled my spare suitcase with clothes and Bella fills hers with books. I love reading, but shopping is a much loved hobby. Also money is not a problem, because there was four generations of lawyers in Renee's side of the family.

Dad's chief cruiser was waiting for us outside the building.

"Hi girls, long time no see! V and Bells, you two look very grown up." Dad said to us as he helped to put our luggage in the car.

"Hey Charlie, thanks. Renee says hi." I beamed at him.

"Hey dad, thanks." Bella blushed – a natural reaction – and tripped over something. I helped her up.

"You going to have to be more careful here Bells." I warned her.

"I know mother." She grinned. I rolled my eyes at her.

Charlie told us that we would have our own bedroom and bathroom as he drove us to his 4 bedroom house. The conversation pretty much ended there.

When we arrived, I was shocked to see two shiny new cars parked in the drive way. Two 2006 3.2 V6 S-Tronic Audi, one in snow white and the other midnight black.

"The keys are in the ignition. You girls will have to talk over what color you want." Charlie smiled.

"Is t-that, f-for us?" Bella stuttered.

"All yours. I just want you girls to be happy here." Charlie said.

"Thanks dad!" Bella and I squealed. We both tackled him in a hug. His face turned red – a trait Bella inherited from him – and awkwardly hugged us back. Charlie isn't good at putting his emotion into reaction.

Once we got off him, he dragged our bags inside and told us he'll be having a beer, and if we need him, he's in the lounge.

"Vicky what car do you want?" Bella asked. Out of all the people in this planet only Bella is allowed to call me Vicky.

"I don't know. What car do you want?" I smiled, even though I already know the answer.

"White. And I'm guessing you like the black?" She grinned back.

"Yup."

Lazily, we dragged our suitcases to our separate rooms. Our rooms were upstairs, facing each other. I glanced at my room; wasn't very big, but it wasn't that small either. Once I had finished unpacking, I walked down stairs to find that Bella's already making dinner.

"Smells good, do you need any help?" I asked. I was hoping she'd say no because she was a better cook then I am.

"Nope, everything's under control." She said.

"Can you believe Charlie got us two nice cars?" I exclaimed, unable to keep my excitement to myself.

"No." She giggled. She then sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, concerned.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Forks is turning out to be better than I thought."

"Then what is it?" I pressed.

"I don't want to tell you this, but I guess you'll have to know." She sighed again. "It's just that, well, we have school tomorrow."

"We're WHAT?!" I asked, unable to believe my ears.

"I know. It hasn't even been a day yet. But it's the least we could do for Charlie, considering how hard he tried for us to be happy." Bella responded.

"When did you found out?" I demanded.

"When you were unpacking."

After dinner I took a shower, and hit the sack fairly early. I was jet legged, and I can tell that tomorrow is going to be a long day.

* * *

"_BEEP…BEEPBEEP…BEEP…"_my alarm clock screeched. I groaned. Then I pulled my comforter off me. It's time for school. I sighed.

I took a shower and changed into a pair of bootcut dark jeans, a purple T-shirt and a long red coat. I put on some comfy boots and French braided my long, mahogany hair. Grabbing my messenger bag, I headed down stairs. Bella was already there, dressed in simple blue jeans, a long sleeved black shirt, a crème colored coat, with black boots and her dark chocolate hair in a ponytail. She was playing with her cereal.

"Good morning." She greeted me.

"Good morning. How was your sleep?" I asked.

"Fine. Yours?"

"Good." I grabbed myself some cereal, and we ate breakfast in silence. After we finished, I rinsed our bowls under the sink and asked Bella if she wants to drive separately.

"No, how about if we drive in my car. This way it saves gas and we won't stand out. Much." She said. I bitted my lip; Bella hates attention almost as much as she hates people buying things for her.

"Alright."

The ride to school was quiet. Bella played our favorite CD. Unlike most people, we have different taste in Music. We listen to a lot of classic and a few modern songs we like to sing along to.

When we arrived it was still early. She parked near the main administration. It was raining lightly outside, and we were both glad when we walked into the dry reception.

"Hello, I'm Verity Swan and this is my sister Isabella Swan. We're new here." I told the receptionist.

"Of course, welcome to Forks High School. I have your schedules right here, and here's a map of the school. And bring these slips back at the end of the day with each teacher's signature." She then went through the routines of the school, highlighting the shortcuts. Then she bided us goodbye.

"Sounds like Charlie's being talking to the whole town about us." I stated to Bella.

She sighed.

We compared schedules; luckily, we had all the classes together. We had English, Government, and Trigonometry, gym, Spanish, lunch, and then Biology. I grimaced. Bella was really uncoordinated, and me being her partner during gym for the past 2 years knew that sports and Bella doesn't get along. And whenever she hurts herself, she brings someone down as well. Usually the closest person next to her, which is me, aka her partner.

The showers stopped as more people began to arrive. That was when the staring and pointing began. I frowned. You see, Bella and I were both rather pretty. We both are taller than average, yet not what you call tall. We're fairly skinny, and we have curves. Our skin is the color of pearl. We both have a heart shaped face, perfect straight nose, with full rosy lips, cheekbones and almond shaped eyes. The only differences are Bella have chocolate eyes with chocolate hair, while I have blue eyes with mahogany hair.

Bella doesn't think she's beautiful at all. Average, is what she calls herself. She never understands why people hit on her.

A guy with blond hair and baby face walked up to us. "Hi, I'm Mike and you guys must be the Swan sisters."

"Yes that's us. I'm Verity and this is Bella." I politely introduced us.

"Hi." Bella smiled timidly.

"So do you guys need any help finding your classes?" He asked. Was he joking? This place is a basically a square. Guess that crossed him off from the Able-to-make-friends list.

"No thank you, we're fine." I told him.

He frowned. "You sure? You could get lost in here."

Bella realized what was going on. She bit her lip to stop laughing.

"No thank you. The bell is about to ring and I think we should get to class. See you around." We walked quickly away from the 'Labrador'.

"I think we just found ourselves another 'Labrador'." Bella whispered to me. We glanced at each other and then exploded into laughter.

After we calmed down, we walked quickly to English. Thankfully the teacher was late and we were saved the trouble of introducing ourselves.

School was just what I expected; girls being unfriendly to us and the boys doing crazy things to get our attention. Typical high school.

This girl named Jessica walked with me and Bella to the cafeteria. We sat with Mike and his friends. After buying two palmed sized pizzas, I sat down, and gave Bella her lunch. That's when I noticed them.

They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were six of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't gawking at me or Bella, unlike most of the other student, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an excessively interested pair of eye. But it was none of these things that caught, and held, my attention.

They didn't look anything alike. Of the four boys, one was big – muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair. Another was taller, leaner, but still muscular, and honey blond hair. The third was lanky, less bulky, with untidy, bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students. But it was the last guy who seized my attention firmly.

He had the same shade of bronze hair as the third boy. He was slightly taller, and slightly more muscular. His face looked so similar to the third boy, yet you could tell the difference. There wasn't a word that could describe his beauty.

The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind you saw on the cover of _Sports Illustrated_ swim issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back. The short girl was pixielike, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction.

And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every on of them was chalky pale, the palest of all students living in this sunless town. Paler than me and Bells, the albinos. They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes – purplish, bruiselike shadows. As if they were all suffering from a sleepless night, or almost done recovering from a broken nose. Though their noses, all their features, were straight, perfect, angular.

But all this is not why I couldn't look away.

I stared at them, because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were the faces you never expected to see except perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful – maybe the perfect blond girl, or the bronze haired boys

Bella noticed them too. "Who are they?" She asked Jessica.

Apparently Jessica noticed us looking at the perfect strangers, because she didn't even look up. "That's Edward, Anthony, Emmett and Alice Cullen, Rosalie and Jasper Hale. They all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife."

Strange unpopular names. The kind of name grandparents had.

"They are… very nice looking." I struggled with the understatement of the century.

"Yes!" Jessica agreed with a giggle. "They all together though – Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. They live together. They never socialize either. They don't talk to anyone outside their group unless it's like a school project or something." Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town, I thought critically. But if I was being honest, I had to admit that even in Phoenix, it would cause gossip.

"Which ones are the Cullens? They don't look related…" Bella asked.

"Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They all adopted. The Hales _are_ brothers and sisters, twins – the blondes – and they're brothers and sisters. They have been Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that. "

"Who are the boys with the reddish brown hair?" I questioned.

"The slightly taller one is Anthony, and the other one is Edward. But don't waste your time, neither of them dates." Jessica sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I bit my lip to hide a smile.

I was getting sick of all the staring, apparently so have Bella.

"Let's go to my car and listen to a CD, we've still got half and hour to kill." She suggested.

"Sounds perfect."

We dumped our rubbish in the bin. Then we walked over to our car.

Claire De Lune filled the car, and we both sighed in content. This piece always makes us feel relaxed and free.

Suddenly someone tapped my window. I rolled it down quickly. I felt my eyes go wide when I saw who it was.

"Hi, my name is Alice Cullen. This is my sister Rosalie." The pixielike girl introduced. Rosalie gave us a small wave, smiling.

Once I recovered from my shock, I looked at them. Why would they want to talk to us? "Hi, I'm Verity and this is Bella."

Bella smiled at both of them.

"I'm sorry if we're disturbing you. We could leave, if you want." Alice looked down at her feet sadly. Her expression was heart breaking.

"No no, you didn't. We're just shocked that you would talk to us, that's all." I hurriedly explained.

The bright smile was back on Alice's face again. "Great! Why don't we get to know each other better? How about if we go on a shopping trip after school?"

I beamed at her. "I LOVE shopping! Where do you want to go?"

She smiled, if possible, even wider. "Me too! How about if we go to Seattle? We can drive there after school. It's the weekend anyways."

"Uh oh, you don't want to get her started on the subject of shopping, she'll never stop." Rosalie said in a serious expression. Alice slapped her arm playfully.

Bella groaned.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked.

"Don't mind her, she hates shopping." I explained.

"WHAT?!" Alice exclaimed, shocked.

"I'd be surprised if anyone doesn't hate shopping with Alice." Rosalie mumbled. Alice was too shocked to reply to Rosalie's little jab.

The bell rang. We waved good bye to Alice and Rosalie. We then hurried to our next class.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Alice POV

'_I wanna take you away, Lets escape into the music, DJ let it play, I just can't refuse it, Like the way you do this…'_I sang repeated in my mind as we drove to school. I had to block Edward and Anthony; otherwise…I shuddered. This bought my mind to the series of vision I had lately.

_Flashback_

_As Alice cleaned up the mess after she hunted, a vision suddenly hits her._

_Alice could see Anthony's' back. He had his arm around a girl with long mahogany hair. _

"_And so the lion fall in love with the lamb…"he whispered._

"_What a stupid lamb," the girl sighed._

"_What a sick, masochistic lion." He mumbled. _

_Change of scene_

_All Alice could see was Edward's back. He was holding girl with long chocolaty-red hair in his lap. _

"_I love you Bella." He whispered sweetly in her ears._

"_I love you too Edward." She whispered back._

_Change of scene _

_Edward was driving with Anthony sitting next to him._

"_I don't get it, why can't I hear their thoughts? What's happening to me?" Anthony murmured, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. _

"_You think you've got it bad, imagine having a singer." Edward mumbled._

_The vision ended when their drove past the 'Welcome to Alaska" sign. _

_Change of scene._

_Edward and Anthony were standing next to two grave stones._

"_I'm sorry. I love you." They both whispered to the grave stones. "Don't worry love, I'm coming soon." They both walked away. _

_Alice saw the grave stones just before the vision ended. It said:_

_Isabella Marie Swan_

_1987 – 2004_

_Loving daughter and sister._

_Verity Elizabeth Swan_

_1987 – 2004_

_Loving daughter and sister._

_End flashback._

The flashback was over in seconds. Edward and Anthony didn't notice.

Verity's POV

We hurried along to Biology. Unfortunately, we were late. Mr. Banner gave us a warning, and he made us stand in front of the whiteboard and told us we have one minute to introduce ourselves. I nervously fidgeted with my bag strap as I made up a speech on the spot.

"Hi, um, my name is Verity and this is my twin Bella. Bella is really into reading and I love shopping. We both love listening to classical music. Bella loves Chinese food and I love Italian."

"Alright girls, take a seat. One of you take a seat next to Mr. Cullen. The other takes a seat in that spare desk over here." Mr. Banner instructed. We both groaned; ever since grade 3 the teachers always allowed us to sit together. Bella took the spare seat forcing me to sit next to a stranger. I gave her a dirty look. However I wasn't so annoyed with her when I saw who I was going to sit next to.

It was Anthony, and seen him made my heart do triple jumps. It was so loud, that I was sure that he heard it because he snickered.

He stacked his books into a neat pile on his side of the desk. I quickly sat down and took out my books. I pulled the ribbon out of my hair, making my hair coming out of its neat plait. Like the coward I am, I used my hair as a curtain and hid my red face behind it.

"Alright class, as I was saying," Mr. Banner gave me a dirty look, "open up your biology text book to page 65. I would like you to read it to yourself, and then work on exercise 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9. You've got forty minutes, and what isn't completed is left for homework. Time starts from now."

I opened up my book, and to my relief, all the questions were easy. I flicked through a few pages and realized that I had done all this back in Phoenix with Bella; we were placed in an advanced class.

Once I finished, I put my pen down and looked around. At least three quarters of the class were still working. Bella was doodling on her notebook. Wondering if Anthony has finished his, I peaked at him. Wrong move. He was looking at me, with a frustrated look on his God-like face. His golden eyes were mixed with a hint of black. I dropped my gaze, quickly hiding behind my curtain of hair again.

What could have caused him to be so frustrated with me? I've only just meet him today, and we haven't spoke a word to each other. I felt anger building inside me.

_Maybe he wasn't annoyed at you, _my reasonable side argued. _Maybe he was thinking about something frustrating, and he just happened to look at you. Maybe he was looking at you, but not seen you._

I felt the anger slipping away, and in its place was replaced by disappointment. It was like I was disappointed that he didn't notice me. What was wrong with me? I had never felt like this before, especially about a guy. It must be that I'm still jet legged; I tried to comfort myself.

I shook my head, trying to forget my jumbled thoughts when I felt someone tapping my shoulder.

"Hello, my name is Anthony. I don't think I've had a chance to introduce myself before." He smiled a breathe-taking smile at me. It was hard to take my eyes away from his face and collect my thoughts.

"I'm Verity." I quickly held my hand out for him to shake it, before he noticed my gawking.

He took my hand; it was like touching a piece of ice. "Pleasure. I heard that you have a shopping trip with my sisters Alice and Rosalie today after school?"

"Yes. Bella and I need a few necessarities. Besides, it was hard to refuse Alice." I smiled.

He laughed a beautiful laugh. "Yes, Alice tends to have that effect on people."

I didn't know what to say after that. As if right on cue, the bell rang. Mr. Banner told the class to pack up and then it was time to go. I waved goodbye at Anthony. He returned my gesture and hurried outside. Feeling better than I did since the beginning of the class, I skipped over to Bella's desk and waited patiently for her to pack her stuff.

"What's gotten into you?" she asked as we walked to her car.

"Nothing. I'm just looking forward to our shopping trip." I lied. I felt bad about lying to Bella but I didn't know how to explain it, not when I'm not so sure myself.

Alice and Rosalie were already there, waiting.

"Hey guys, sorry to keep you waiting." Bella said apologetically.

"Oh no, don't worry. The teacher let us out early." Rosalie replied.

"Do you guys mind if we go to our house first? Bella and I need to grab our wallets." I asked.

"Not at all. Hey can we get a ride with you? Our cars are at home and we usually take Edward's and Anthony's cars." Alice asked.

"Absolutely." Bella answered.

"Cool. I bags shot gun." Alice squealed. Bella and I laughed; it felt so normal for Alice to act this way.

Once we arrived at Charlie's house, I told Alice and Rosalie to take a seat in the lounge while we grabbed our stuff. I changed into a pair of comfy jeans and a long, V neck jumper. I kept my boots on and grabbed my wallet as I walked down stairs. Bella was already there.

"Hey can we take your car?" Bella asked. "A white car is going to stand out at night."

"No problems." I answered.

Once we were seated in my car (Alice got the shot gun), Alice turned on the Radio and sang along to Low (feat T-pain). It wasn't long until Rosalie joined in.

"…Shawty had them Apple Bottom Jeans, boots with the fur come on Bella and Verity, sing along!" Alice shouted. I laughed. Shaking my head in surrender, I sang along.

It turned out to be one of the best car rides I've had. It was so much fun, just singing along, occasionally dancing with Rosalie, Alice and Bella. Although I've only known the Cullen sisters under a day, they were one of those people that's so easy to get along with. Even Bella, who is usually so sly, felt comfortable acting stupid in front of the Cullen sisters. I had never seen her open up to strangers like this before, especially ones we've just meet today.

An hour later we arrived in Seattle. Immediately I began to throw things at Bella, telling her to try them on. Alice and Rosalie copied my example. Bella, as usual, groaned but didn't complain out loud. Twenty bags and four hours later, we were finally through with that shopping center and drove back Forks.

"Hey you guys, since it's the weekend, and I want to get to know you guys better, do you want to go to my house for a sleep over? It'll be so much fun; we can give each other pedicures and watch movies! Pretty please?" Alice pouted at me and Bella.

Since I would never turn down a sleep over and Bella is a sucker for Alice's sad expressions, so we both agreed.

"YAY this is gonna be so much fun! Do you guys want to sleep in my bedroom, the lounge, or the spare guest bedroom?" Alice asked.

I looked at Bella. I know she talks in her sleep and she probably wouldn't want to embarrass herself. "The guest bedroom, if it's okay."

Alice didn't look surprised. "No problems, I'll call mom to prepare the room." She pulled out a sliver cell phone and began dealing a number.

"Esme, I have two girlfriends sleeping over tonight, can you prepare?" Was it just me, or did she had double meaning in her words?

"Oh thanks mom! Okay, see you in 30minutes! Love you!" Alice hangs up her phone.

"Can we go to my house first? Verity and I need to get necessarities." Bella questioned.

"Of course! And can I drive on the way to my house? It's kind of complicated." Rosalie asked.

"Ok." I said. I felt so comfortable that moment, hanging out with my favorite people and a very promising weekend ahead.

But if I knew what was going to happen that night, I would have fight Alice and Rosalie to get away from them, not that I'd ever win.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Verity's POV

The rest of the ride was quiet. When we arrived home, Alice and Rosalie insisted to help with our bags. I thanked them, and we walked inside.

Charlie was sitting in front of the TV. "Hey girls, how was the trip?" He looked over the couch and did a double take when he saw Alice and Rose.

"Hey dad, this is Rosalie, and this is Alice. Bella and I had a great time shopping with them today." I introduced.

"Hi Chief Swan, we hope we're not bothering you." Alice apologized.

"Hello Chief Swan, sorry if we're intruding." Rosalie echoed.

"No no, it's nothing. Go ahead and call me Charlie. How are you girls today?" Charlie smiled warmly at them.

"Fine thanks." Rose and Alice both said.

"Hey dad, since it's the weekend, can we sleep over at the Cullen's house? Alice invited us and we'll be back by Sunday." I asked.

"Yeah, please?" Alice threw him a pout/pleading look.

"Yes that's fine. As long as you girls be careful and don't do anything that's dangerous." Charlie agreed.

"Thanks dad! We're just going to grab our stuff now!" Bella said.

"Ok. You girls make yourself at home." Charlie went back to his TV.

Alice and Rose followed us to our rooms. Since Rose had all of my bags, she followed me to my room and Alice followed Bella to hers.

"Thanks." I told Rosalie as she put down all my bags.

"No problems." Rosalie answered as she popped herself on my bed. I grabbed my overnight bag and began throwing clothes in there. I grabbed my shower bag? and throw my flip flops into a plastic bag, then the overnight bag. I changed my shoes into my ugg boots and announced that I was ready.

We walked down stairs, only to find Alice and Bella on the couch, watching a game with Charlie. We said goodbye to Charlie and Bella and I gave him a hug and a kiss as we left.

"Nice to meet you girls, have a good weekend!" Charlie called.

"Thanks we will Charlie. You have a nice weekend as well." Rose and Alice called.

I let Alice have the shotgun, because I was a little tired, and I wanted a small rest before I stay up all night during the sleepover; I knew I wouldn't get that if Alice is sitting next to me.

The ride to the Cullens' was quiet. Alice and Rose probably sensed that we wanted a rest because it was absolutely quiet. Five minutes later, or so it felt to me, I heard Alice chirping voice.

"We're here!" She sang.

"Bella and I grabbed our bags, and walked into their house. Or should I say, mansion.

It was the most beautiful house I'd ever seen. There were three levels, and the house was painted in white. There were some really beautiful flowers in the lawn. Bella and I gasped.

"It's a nice house. Come on in, or are you going to stand there all night with your mouth open? I suppose we could stay outside with you but there wouldn't be much fun." Alice joked.

Bella and I regained our composure. We walked inside to the lounge, and there we found the Cullen family sitting on a humongous, white leather couch. Everyone turned their heads at us and Bella, as usual, blushed at the attention and tripped. I hoped she won't start bleeding because she either faints or vomits at the smell of blood.

"Shoot," She muttered as her hand did the exact opposite as I hoped. After that it felt like everything was played in slow motion.

I started to ask Bella if she was alright but suddenly, I felt a small hand hitting my stomach, then I was thrown into the air, hitting the wall. My back ached as I tried to sit up. The first person I saw was Bella. But she wasn't by herself. Either Anthony or Edward (I couldn't tell because they both had the same shade of bronze hair) was next to her, in a crouch position. What I saw next made me scream out in horror.

Anthony or Edward grabbed Bella bleeding hand and bit into it. He began to drink something. It was a few second before I registered what he was going. He was drinking Bella's _blood._

"BELLA!!" I screamed.

Suddenly, the drinker was thrown into the air. I saw his face, it was Edward. A motherly looking woman and Anthony pinned Edward down as they wrestled him outside. Emmett and Alice were doing the same Jasper as they tried to avoid Jasper's snapping jaw. Rosalie moved so she was in a crouch position in front of me. A good looking man was next to Bella, and suddenly, Bella started to scream the most ears piecing scream I've ever heard.

"Please, take away the fire! It's burning me!! IT'S BURNING ME!! PLEASE!!" Bella plead screamed.

"I'm so sorry Bella, I'm so sorry." That's all the blonde man kept repeating. Rosalie relaxed a position in front of me. Suddenly she was next to me.

"Are you okay Verity?" She asked me.

I tried to talk. At first I couldn't say anything. Then my voice came out as a whisper. "What's happening to my sister?"

At this point, the blonde man instructed Rose. "Rose, go and get a mattress and some chains please. You know what to do. I need to talk to Verity." He walked over slowly to me. "Hello, my name is Carlisle. I'm Rosalie, Alice, Anthony, Jasper, Edward and Emmett's father. I'm sorry we couldn't meet in better circumstances."

"Verity. What's happening to my sister?" I was sure that my croaked voice wouldn't be heard over Bella's terrifying screams, but some how he heard me.

"You see Verity, we're vampires."

I was sure I didn't hear him correctly. I became extremely angry; who does he think he's kidding?

"My sister, could be dying here for all we know, and now you think it's the best time to crack a joke! This is not funny!" I shouted angrily at him.

"I'm really sorry, but I am serious. We are vampires. Shall we talk this over in my office?"

"I am not leaving my sister. And stop lying to me! " I said as I ran over to Bella. She was still screaming and tears were running wildly down her cheeks. Rosalie was holding her down and chained her ankles and wrists.

"You see, we're vampires. We have got inhuman strength, speed and we're almost indestructible. We've chosen to give up on drinking human blood, so instead we feed on animal blood. This is why our eye color is gold. However, just because we don't drink blood doesn't mean that blood can be tempting to us. It's hard to be in control but all everyone in my family had at least 90 years to practice resisting temptation. I don't know why Edward lost control back there; he's never lost control before." Carlisle explained.

"What's happening to Bella?" I repeated.

"When a vampire bites a human, if he or she doesn't drain all the blood, the venom in the vampire's mouth will be transferred into the human's body. The victim will suffer three days in pain and when it's over, the victim will become a vampire as he or she's heart stop beating. I'm sorry, but that's what's happening to Bella at the moment. There's nothing I can do; there's too much venom in her system, so I can't suck it out." Carlisle apologized.

I felt my world shook. There was no way I couldn't believe Carlisle. The look on his face was so apologetic, yet so honest. Besides, how else can you explain the appearing-out-of-thing-air issue? There's only one question now.

"What will happen to her? What will happen to me?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but we'll have to stage Bella's death. All the newborn vampires are extremely blood thirty and will drain any human that's close enough in a matter of seconds. Bella will no longer be able to see humans." He answered.

"Are you saying that, Charlie or Renee will never see Bella again and after two and a half days, I'll never see Bella again either!?" I demanded. I was about to cry; this isn't fair. Bella never asked for any of this. What did she do?

"It's all for the best." He answered with a grave face. "Unfortunately, no human is allowed to know that vampires exist, so we're giving you a choice: You can live with us for the rest of your life as a human, or you can be changed into a vampire, or you can choose death. I'm really, really sorry."

Now I felt tears of anger spelt over the edge. "So now you're saying, I'm _also_ never allowed to see Charlie, Renee or any of my friends for the rest of my life?"

He nodded. "I'm so sorry." He whispered. "Your death will also have to be staged, among with Bella's."

At this point, I was waiting for someone to start laughing and telling me it's a joke. I looked around wildly, then jumped when I realized, everyone, except for Edward, Jasper, Anthony and Emmett was back in the room. The motherly woman came over to me and gave me a hug.

"We're so sorry, dear." She said. Everything that had just happened started to sink in. I felt so angry all of a sudden; saying sorry won't change anything now. Bella and I are stuck the way it is. Apologizing isn't going to help anything. I shook her arm off me, ignoring the hurt look on her on her beautiful face, and asked if I could be alone for a while.

Everyone looked at Carlisle. "Yes. Rosalie please take her up to the spare guest bedroom." He instructed.

Rosalie grabbed my stuff, and she led me upstairs. She was quiet, and I refused to look at her.

She led me to a room, or should I say suite. I walked straight to the couch, since there was no bed. I sat down, and wrapped my arms around my knees as I rested my forehead on my kneecaps. None of this was happening, I tried to convince myself. When I wake up from this nightmare, Bella and I are still in Phoenix. But everything felt so real, and nothing could erase those images out of my head. Everything was just too much to handle.

"Good night Verity." Rosalie whispered. I was surprised that she was still there. She shut the door and left.

I realized that I don't have much of a say in what will happen to me. I had three choices, and two of them involved living with vampires. My heart shuttered as I realized that I'll never have kids; living in a house with blood thirsty creatures won't allow that. Besides, who'll love me enough to give up everything, _everything_ just to be with me in the first place? Even if someone is willing, I wouldn't allow it. I would not ask someone to give up their life for me.

Now down to the real question, what should I do _now_? Should I keep my humanity, know that if I do, I would probably never see the only blood related family member again.

Somewhere down below, Bella screamed again. I shuddered. I cannot imagine that feeling, _the pain _she going through. I felt angry once again; what did Bella do to deserve this?

Suddenly everything was crystal clear to me. I have the thing Bella is slowly losing, and what she's probably screaming for at the moment. Why, _why _would I be dumb enough to change it? Why did I even consider it?

Feeling more confident than I had been for a while, I stood up, and walked to the lounge. I was ready to announce my decision.

But before I'd even walked to the door, suddenly all of the Cullens, except for Edward were in the room.

"Hello Verity, I assume you've made a decision." Carlisle said calmly.

"How did you know?" I asked, confused.

"We, as vampires, can have unique gifts. Alice can predict the future, Jasper can feel what you feel, Edward and Anthony can read minds, Emmett have super strength; he's strong, even for a vampire. However, not all of us do." Carlisle explained.

"Well, in that case, I'm assuming you know about my decision. I wish to stay human." I told them as calmly as I could.

"Very well. You cannot tell anyone about this. Otherwise, we'd have to kill you as it is against our rules."

I flinched. With a pathetic attempt I tried to keep my composure. "I understand. Please leave; I want to rest now."

Everyone nodded and left without another word. Not bothering with removing my clothes, I lay down on the couch and tried to block Bella's piecing screams.

* * *

I got out of bed the next morning, feeling like I haven't slept for a few days. Bella was still screaming. Slowly, I grabbed my bag of toiletries and a spare change of clothes. I walked into the bathroom, and slowly took a shower. I let the hot water ran over my tense muscles, and finally broke down. I cried, crying over my sorrow, over Bella, over Charlie and Renee. Renee is like a child; how would she handle the news of our 'death'? And Charlie, at least Renee has Phil. Charlie has never gotten over Renee, although we've never spent much time with him, I knew how much he cares about us. Charlie's not a rich man, yet he bought us those cars when he doesn't have a car which he owns. Bella and I were slowly becoming the bases of his life. And Bella, she had never done anything to hurt anyone. She doesn't even swear. What did she do, to be doomed to this life? Why is it, that all the good people always gets punished, while all those murders out there, are free, free of punishment, and owning freedom?

Once I'd let everything out, I began to shower properly. I washed my hair with my favorite strawberry scented shampoo, and rinsed my body with soap. When I was done, I switched off the tap and walked out of the shower. I took my time, blow drying my hair and brushed my teeth. I put on my jeans, long sleeved shirt and slippers. I took a deep breath, then I walked out of the bathroom. I frowned when could no longer hear Bella's screams.

Rosalie was there, looking as always beautiful, holding a tray.

"I bought you breakfast." She smiled at me, but it didn't touch her eyes.

"Why isn't Bella screaming?" I asked her.

"We moved her to the basement." She answered.

I took the tray from her. "Thank you for the breakfast." I hinted. I wanted her to leave.

"You're welcome." She said. She looked at her feet. "Look, can I talk to you, please?" She asked.

"Sure. Whatever. " I wanted her to get it over and done with, then disappear.

"Let's sit down." She suggested. We walked over to the couch and she sat next to me. I put my tray on the coffee table.

"First of all, I would like to explain. Alice didn't invite you guys over because we wanted to change your lives forever. Alice didn't see, um, _this _coming until Bella tripped. I'm really sor-"

I cut her off. "Don't apologize. I heard enough of that last night. Nothing you guys will say is going to change what has already happened." I knew I was being mean but at that moment, I couldn't careless; they had stolen my life and Bella's life away from us. Why should I be nice?

"I know how you feel. I know how it feels to lose everything, you family, friends, humanity, and mostly, _your life. _I know the situation is quite different, but I know how it feels. I'm not asking for forgiveness, or friendship. All I'm asking for is a chance. Please, give us or at least a few of us a chance to get to know you better. I'm sorry Carlisle sounded so cruel last night; vampire laws forces our leader to act upon situations like this that way. He had to get the message clear and across." Rosalie pleaded, her golden eyes full of sorrow.

I was speechless; that was the most amount of word that came out of Rosalie's mouth in one go. I considered her words. Rosalie did nothing wrong; she even protected me last night. She cooked me breakfast this morning and even came over to explain to me when she could just ignore me. Rose deserved a chance.

"Sure." I smiled at her; it came naturally, to my surprise. It felt like forever since I last smiled.

"Thank you so much." She hugged me, and when she pulled back, I could see relief and joy dancing across her perfect face.

I wasn't really hungry, so I had a few bites of toast before I was full. I sipped on my tea and began to make small talks with Rosalie.

"So Rose, if you don't mind me asking, why were you changed?" I questioned.

"I was rapped, and beaten by my ex- fiancé and his friends when Carlisle found me. Before all this, I had everything a girl could dream of. I had the looks, a fair amount of money and a prince charming." She said with a straight face.

I was shocked, and then I felt gratitude. At least I wasn't beaten and rapped before my life was stolen away from me. I wasn't sure how to react to Rosalie's little-this-was-my-life-and-what-happened-to-me speech.

There was an awkward silence.

"So do you want to watch a movie after this?" She asked.

"Yes." I was grateful for the change of subject.

We watched Mean girls. We needed a good laugh. Half way through the movie someone knocked the door. Rose looked at me. I nodded.

"Come in," she called.

A little pixie poked her head into the room. "Hi Verity hi Rose. Verity, sorry I had to push you out of the way last night." She said, while looking at her feet.

I thought about it. So that's who hit me on the shoulder. But if it weren't for Alice, I'd probably have the same fate as Bella at the moment.

"Hi Alice." I smiled at her.

She instantly brightened up again. "So what are we doing?" she asked.

"Um…Rose and I are watching a movie at the moment. You're welcome to join us, if you like." I answered.

"Yes that would be great." She popped herself next to me on the couch, and we had a good time watching Mean girls.

Suddenly, Alice went blank.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Bella's POV

"Shoot," I muttered as my hand started bleeding, the result for when I tripped over. I felt dizzy and the room began to spin. Suddenly, something icy gripped my hand roughly. Ice-like stones clawed into my bleeding hand. The last thing I saw was Verity's face, mounted in a horror mask, screaming for me. Then I blacked out.

For a while, it seemed like I was watching a movie. It was like the story of my life, from as early as I can remember to as late as now, was flowing out of my head. I had a feeling that I would probably never get them back and there was nothing I can do to about it. Suddenly the first time I saw Edward appeared. No! I can't lose that one! Then my first girls' night out, possibly the best I've ever had. I prayed to the Lord with everything I've got in me; I didn't want to lose those. Strangely, they stayed.

Then the fire began.

It was felt like fire burning, consuming you, eating out of you, and then destroying you. Fire in/on your body, and blood was keeping it going. I screamed out loud; what was happening to me?

Then it got worse. The fire in my hands was getting worse. No longer able to stand it, I shrieked out, half pleading. "Please, take away the fire! It's burning me!! IT'S BURNING ME!! PLEASE!!"

When no one responded, I began to kick, slash and do whatever I could to distract myself from the agony. It was a pathetic attempt, but I had to do _something_. I felt chains on my wrists and ankles.

For a long time, or so it seemed to me, that was all I felt. Except from time to time, it got worse. The pain never ceased, so I was grateful when I started to fall into unconsciousness.

Waking up

I opened my eyes. Where am I? What happened? I shuddered as I remembered the agony I was in for the past few days. I couldn't tell how long it was. But that didn't matter for the moment; it stopped and that's all I care. I sat up, and jumped when I saw an extremely good looking man standing a few feet away from where I was laying down.

"Hi Bella, how are you feeling?" He smiled kindly at me. I blocked my ears; it was too loud.

"I-I-I, where am I? _Who_ are you?" I asked. Why is he here? Do I know him?

"Where are my manners? Excuse me." He lowered his voice. "My name is Carlisle, and you're in my house. I should explain to you what happened. You and your sister had a sleepover with my daughters, Alice and Rosa-"

I interrupted him; I suddenly remembered. "VERITY! Where is she?"

"Don't worry, she is fine. At the moment she's upstairs with Alice and Rosalie. You see, we're vampires." He stated, like it was just a simple fact that everyone should know.

"Yeah, and I'm the queen of England." I replied sarcastically.

To my surprise, he smiled. "I didn't expect you to believe me the first time." He pointed to a door length mirror. "Go and take a look at yourself."

I was confused. Why would I need to do that? I know what I look like. I'm not a beauty queen, like Verity, but just one of those girls every guy happened to like. I'm not ugly, I'm normal. Average.

I did what I was told. Quickly, wanting to get this over and done with, I walked to the mirror. I was shocked when I realized that I walked across the room in two seconds time. Since when did I own super speed? I'm the type of girl who trips over air. But that was not the biggest surprise. I let out a gasp as I saw my reflection in the mirror.

She looked like me; you could tell she is me, except she is much more beautiful. Her pale skin was whiter than anyone I've seen so far. She has chocolaty-red waist length hair, so shiny and it looked like silk. She had curves, even well enough to rival Rosalie. My eyes ran over her full luscious lips, perfect straight nose, and her perfect features. But her eyes scared me the most. It was red, blood red. I was stunned about my sudden change for a second, before I realize my eyes are _red._

"Carlisle…m-my eyes!" I stuttered.

"Yes, that happens to all newborn vampires. But don't worry, if you follow our diet, your eyes will be the same color as mine in a years time. Do you feel a tickling feeling, burning your throat?" He asked.

To say I was confused was the world's biggest understatement, but there is no rational explanation to describe why I look like this, or my sudden super speed. Or my sensitive hearing. In fact, all of my senses are really sensitive at the moment. Only his theory fits. I may not be a vampire – it doesn't seem likely that someone who faints over the sight of blood becomes a vampire – but I'm not longer human.

To answer his question, I checked to see if the feeling is there. I shook my head; I didn't feel anything.

He looked amazed. "Really? Are you sure?" he pressed.

"No, I'm positive."

"Hum… I guess I'll have to…"he mumbled to himself. "Esme, can you go hunting and bring back some blood?"

"Sure, honey, I'll be right back." Someone answered. Ten minutes later a motherly looking woman walked in holding two air tight containers, one bigger than the other. She handed the smaller container to Carlisle, put the other on a table then walked over to me.

"Hello dear, my name is Esme. How are you feeling?" She gave me a hug. Her hug felt so caring; somehow it comforted me.

"Fine thanks." I smiled at her and returned her gesture. She gave me a happy smile before she walked over to Carlisle.

"I'm going to open this container, ok Bella?" He questioned me. Why did he ask me if he could open that container? I nodded.

Nothing happened.

Carlisle looked amazed. "You might be the first newborn vampire in history to not be affected by blood."

"That's because I'm not a vampire." I said, irritated. Why does he keep on insisting that I am a vampire?

Esme walked over to me, now holding that bigger container. "Honey, please drink this. It's good for you."

Not wanting to reject Esme, I opened the container, and began to drink something that smelt okay. To my surprise, I liked it; it tasted like sugar.

I licked my lips when I finished. "I like that stuff, what was it?"

"It was blood. Only a vampire could drink blood and like the taste of it." Carlisle said.

I was speechless. I couldn't believe that I just drank blood, and liked it. It could have being some innocent humans'. I realized that Carlisle was right; I am a vampire.

"Don't worry, it wasn't human blood. It was animal blood." Carlisle stated, seeing right through me. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Should I explain what happened that night?" Carlisle asked.

"Please." I urged him.

"When you tripped over that night, your hand started to bleed, and not all vampires have control over blood. Edward bit you, because, you were his singer. A singer is a human whose blood calls for a particular vampire. Edward might have control over himself if you didn't bleed." He explained, his expression serious.

"You will have to live with us, as we faked you and your sister's death. Verity's still human, and no human is allowed to know about our secret. That's our vampire law. We did offer her the chance to change into a vampire, but she refused. That's why she has to live with us for the rest of her human life. Even though now we know you are not affect by blood, you cannot see your parents or any of your human friends. However, you can see Verity.

You'll need to be careful when you're around humans. Speed and beauty is not all we have. We also have super strength. So be careful around Verity. Also, some vampires have special gifts; we think you might have one because Edward or Anthony couldn't read your mind. Edward and Anthony can read minds, Alice can predict the future, Jasper can influence how you feel know what you feel and Emmett, he has super strength. He's stronger than average vampires.

We're moving to Alaska in a week's time. Until then you're not allowed to go outside the house. We cannot risk any human seen you. That's all you'll need to know." He smiled, relaxed now the important part is over. "Would you like to see Verity now?" He asked.

"Yes." I answered.

Verity's POV

"What's wrong with Alice?" I asked Rose, concerned.

"She's just having a vision." Rose replied. A second later Alice was back to normal. She hugged me and squealed delightedly.

"Good news! Bella's transformation will be completed in about," she checked her watch, "five minutes! That's only half a day! I don't know why but Carlisle will have a theory. Also," she added, "Bella will not be affected by blood!"

"WHAT?!" Rose yelled.

"I know, and this means that Verity, you can see Bella after all!" Alice beamed.

I let out a sigh of relief, she doesn't have to suffer for three days and we'll get to see each other again.

"Let's go down stairs, and wait in the lounge." Alice suggested.

"Alright." I agreed; I was anxious to see my sister again.

When we got down there, everyone except for Carlisle and Esme was sitting there.

"Hi Verity!" Emmett grinned at me.

"Hey Verity!" said Anthony, smiling at me. I beamed at the both of them; if it weren't for them, I'd be suffering too at the moment. Rose immediately relaxed; she was glad that I wasn't angry at her husband.

Jasper and Edward smiled at me. I nodded in their direction; I wasn't angry at them, they can't help being who there are, but it doesn't mean I'm happy with them.

I sat on the farthest corner on the couch, Alice sat next to me and Rose went to sit next to Emmett.

"So how does this vision of yours work?" I asked Alice.

"Well, I have to focus on what I'm looking for. For example, like your future. Then, I specify; am I looking for troubles that are going to happen? Or happy events? Then, you have to make a decision before I actually see the outcome." Alice explained.

"So on…_that _night there was no way you would have seen what would have happened?" I wasn't angry at Alice; I just needed to make sure.

"I didn't see it until Bella actually tripped over. You see, when we walked into the house, what if one of us decided to walk next to Bella and grab her arm before she tripped? The outcome would have been completely different." Alice stated.

Our conversation was cut when the door to basement was opened. I let out an audible gasp when I saw Bella.

She still looked like the Bella I've grown up with. But her pale skin was whiter than anyone I've seen, including the vampires in the room. She has chocolaty-red waist length hair looked like silk. With curves, well enough to rival Rosalie and flawless facial features, she was the brunette version of Rose. But her eyes scared me. It was red, blood red.

"B-Bells?" I stuttered

She looked at me. A delighted smile was spread across her face; it made her look like an angel. "Verity!" suddenly her arms were around me; it felt like ice.

I was surprised, but happily returned her gesture. "I guess I'll have to get used to the new Bella. I-won't-trip-over-thin-air Bella." I teased.

"Yeah, and I guess I'll have to accept the fact that I'll always be faster than you now." She smiled at me, but it didn't reach her eyes. We stared at each other for a few moments in silence; so much had changed in the last 48 hours.

Emmett decided that now was the best time to interrupt our moment. "Wait, Bella tripped over thin air?" Rose smacked him on the head hard. "Ouch Rose, what was that for?" Alice decided he too needed a good whack on the head. "Ouch Alice! What did I do?" Bella and I laughed; it felt like something only Emmett would do.

Bella and I broke apart. Suddenly Edward was next to her.

"Bella… I am so sorry." He said as he stared into her eyes, his face full of guilt and sadness.

Suddenly Bella couldn't seem to put a sentence together. "I-I, uh, um, don't worry, about it." She shook her head as she tried to clear her head. "I meant, don't worry about it. At least I'm no longer clumsy." She said, trying to make a joke out of it. Bella is never one to hold grudges.

"And much more beautiful." He whispered. And then Edward bit his lips as if he wasn't meant to say that out loud.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "Well, Bella and Verity, welcome to the Cullen family."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Charlie's POV

I smiled as I looked at a photo on my desk; it was Bella and Verity at the age of 3, laughing. My life had really changed a lot since they've came to Forks. Every night as I went home, I no longer felt alone. Mouth-watering smells drifted from the kitchen, and the house itself seemed to have a happy glow. Bells, V and I talked through our day as we ate. Even though they've only been here for less than 48 hours, I felt that a routine was slowly developing. The smile on my face stretched to a grin at that thought.

Everyone – from workers at the police station to the local bar – now days are always having a joke on how that smiles on my face couldn't 'just go away'. I didn't mind the jokes; I was even glad for once in a very long time, I was the topic of happy news.

_BEEP...BEEPBEEP_…The phone rang, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Forks Police station Chief Swan speaking," I answered.

"Chief Swan? This is Esme Cullen. _Sob._ Can you come to Smith St q-quickly? There has been a fire. _Sob._ There also _sob _had been an _sob_ car accident. _Sob_." The voice said.

I was a little shocked; in a town as small as this car accidents are a very rare thing. "I'll be right there." I told her. Then I hang up.

I dialed a number for firefighters, told them the address then ran to the Chief cruiser. I turned on the lights for emergency and drove _very_ quickly to Smith St. Smith St is the road that goes into town from the woods. Well, I can't say I'm _too_ surprised; that road is quite bumpy and the paint on the road had faded. No lights or signs are there either. I've complained to the state government a few times now but they just ignored me. Well, now do they believe me? A car accident occurred, and someone could have been injured. Oh, _and _a fire, possibly caused by the car.

Once I arrived at the scene, I parked my car and ran over to see the damages. A black car was on fire, and the smell of burnt body filled the air. Esme and Alice Cullen were standing there, burying their heads into each others shoulders. Anthony Cullen just looked at the car, his expression pained.

I jumped with I realize that was Verity's car. As quickly as I could, I ran over to Anthony.

"What happened? Where's Bella and Verity? Weren't they at your house, for a sleepover?" I yelled.

It was Alice who answered me. "We did _sob_ go to our house. _Sob_. Verity had _sob_ a fight with me _sob_. Bella still wanted to stay _sob_, but, _sob_, Verity made her, _sob_, choose between her, _sob_, and me." At this point Alice was crying too hard to answer any more questions. So Anthony continued for her.

"So they drove away. But we felt that something bad was going to happen. But we ignored it, thinking it was just one of those weird moments. But the feeling kept on getting worse, so half an hour later, we drove to your house, just to check on them. As we drove, we could see smoke in the air. So we drove faster and we found them like this. There was too much fire for us to drag them out by then."

I tried to pile the information they had just given me. Bells, V, will never grow up again. Gone. They'll stay lifeless and cold. In fact, they won't even look the same! By this time firefighters were putting out the fire. I couldn't do anything except watch them. No, this is just a bad nightmare and when I wake up, everything is going to be okay.

Someone patted me on the shoulder. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Chief Swan."

I wanted to yell at them. I wanted them to tell me my girls are alive, and this car was someone else's. But the car plate was still clearly visible. I knew if I let this go further, I would be lying to myself.

But is that really a bad idea? Do I really want to accept the truth? No, I didn't want to. But I knew if I kept pretending, when I 'woke up', the truth will be even hard to accept.

I tried to fight the tears as a thought came to me; no more family time that I've missed out on for thirteen years. Nothing to look forward to when I get home.

I felt like screaming at God; WHY did you wake away their lives? They would never do ANYTHING to hurt anyone. Why did they lose their lives from such an early age?

I wanted to get away from all this. But I didn't want to go home. Besides, with my girls gone, it's hard to go back with all the memories. I jumped into my cruiser, and drove Billy's house in La Push.

Billy gave me all the comfort I need. He even offered me to stay at his place for a while. I happily agreed. But his eyes darkened whenever I mentioned the Cullens. I felt like I've missed out on some kind of information.

_Two days later._

I was watching TV, trying to district myself. Billy's son, who's two years younger than the girls, was there with me. He's such a good kid, and so tall!

"Charlie. I have to talk to you." Jake said.

"Go on." I answered.

"Well, don't tell my dad okay? He'll go berserk." Jake pleaded. I was confused; Jake was the good kid type.

"Depends…" I said cautiously.

"It's about the Cullens."

I felt a spurge of anger; if they didn't go in the first place they wouldn't have got hurt. But I knew I was been unreasonable; how were they supposed to know?

"Okay. Go on."

"When you were away this morning, they called. They wanted me to tell you that they're moving away. Alice kept beating herself up for the accident. The guilt was too much for her. They wanted to say goodbye but you were away."

"Ok." I went back to the TV. What else am I meant to say?

I knew life would never be the same again after this. But I'll live, live for the girls. Live what they never will have a chance to live.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Verity's POV

I stared at the landscape as we drove by at unbelievable speed. It had been two days since Bella's transformation was completed. Ever since then we've gone closer to the Cullen siblings more than we thought we thought that was possible. But that's probably because every Cullen sibling always tried to hang around Bella and me every chance they've got.

Despite Emmett's physical appearance, he's actually just a kid who's never grown up on the inside. He's always cracking lame jokes, and he's very protective of me. Maybe it's because I'm human. Now I see him more as a big brother figure.

All the men – or should I say vampires – don't understand why Rose is been so nice to me. She's never nice to a human unless it's a sticky situation. I know it's because Rose's human life was taken away as well, although in a way different to me, we feel that connection.

Let's just say, if you think my love of fashion is over the top, well you've seen nothing yet. Alice makes me look like a beginner compared to her. Also, I still don't know how she managed to give me twelve makeovers in ONE day. Even at vampire speed, it seemed impossible.

Jasper kept his distance. Although we talked a lot, he wouldn't even stay in the same room as me unless there are two or more vampires. At first, I was hurt. But after I accidentally showed how I felt towards him he explained that it's because he doesn't want to repeat _that_ night again.

Edward... there isn't a way to describe how I feel towards him. At one hand, I wanted to scream at him, for taking away Bella's life. But on the other, I've seen how Bella acting so… shy around him and looked at him with… _love_ in her eyes. I've never seen her like that before, and she smiles more often too. Edward does the same thing towards Bella, except he acts more natural. I wanted Bella to feel happy but how, _how_ can I trust someone who took her life away from the world she belonged in, accident or no accident?

And there's this amazing feeling whenever I seen Anthony. Strangely enough, even though he and Edward can't read mine or Bella's minds, it always seemed like Anthony knows how I felt, with or without Jasper in the room. Every time I had seen him, my heart beat goes sky high. Every time he looked sad, there was nothing more I wanted than to make him happy.

Happy…what a familiar, yet strange word. Some how, I thought of Charlie.

He must be grieving over the supposed 'deaths'. It won't be easy for him, but I hope he'll get over it one day. Maybe even find a woman, someone who'll love and take care of him.

Bella tapped me on the shoulder, snapping me out of my thoughts. We were sitting in the backseat of Edward's Volvo, Edward was driving and Carlisle sat next to him. It amazes me how Carlisle can finds a decent job within a day, then getting accepted the next. Of course, this sets the plan in motion to go to Alaska. But there was a slight debate; Emmett wanted to try polar bears, but thankfully everyone else voted on Alaska.

"Are you alright?" She asked me.

"I'm fine, thanks. Just thinking." I answered. It upsets me that Bella could no longer any of our childhood memories. All she remembers from her human life is the first time we saw the Cullens, and that eventful girl's night out.

"Ladies, we will arrive at our new home in 2 minutes." Carlisle told us. The sun had already set.

"Thanks." Bella and I said in union.

Soon, we stopped at a house that looked similar to the one the Cullens own in Forks. We waited for a few minutes for the others to arrive. Once they did, Carlisle told us to go inside and we had a family meeting in the new lounge.

"Yes, it's time for that conversation again." Carlisle and Esme smiled at the look on the Cullen sibling's face. Alice was going hyper; she kept bouncing on her seat. Something told me that she already seen what's going to happen.

"But before you begin to talk, let me finish. This time there is a choice; you can either go to a private school, or public. Yes Alice both schools allow free dress. Let's vote. In favor of private school?" Carlisle said.

Alice, Rosalie, Anthony, Jasper and Edward put up their hands. Esme smiled. "Private school it is then."

"Now, age. Verity and Bella, you guys can be the same age. Now," he hesitated, "do you want to change your last name? It's completely optional."

Bella and I looked at each other. Did we want to? Yes, eventually, my inner voice told me. But not now. Not yet.

"Not yet." Bella said.

"Maybe not." I looked down at my feet.

"That's fine. Not a big deal. Edward and Anthony, can you be in grade 11 this year as well? So there are two guys and two girls."

They nodded their heads.

"Rose and Jasper, you're still posing as twins. So we can stay longer, can you two go in grade 10?" They nodded their heads.

"Alice and Emmett, can you two pose as grade 9s?" Alice nodded.

"Can I be 16? So people don't think that Rose is dating a younger guy, I can let people think I've been kept down a few grades." Emmett asked.

"Yes, that fine. But we'd have to tell them you were born with memory problems, and that's why you were kept down a few times." Carlisle told him.

"No problems." He grinned, probably thinking of all the pranks he could pull with the teachers now he's got a 'memory problem'.

"And no pranks, otherwise you can go to a public school by yourself." Carlisle warned him. Emmett pouted. I laughed at his expression.

"Okay, the same stories about our histories, except Bella and Verity are froster children and had lived with us since they were twelve. Is that okay with everyone?" Carlisle asked.

Bella and I nodded. Everyone else answered a yes.

"Since you've choose private school, it's starting tomorrow. So, after we've unpacked we'll have to go hunting. Bella, don't worry, hunting isn't as hard as it sounds." Carlisle added, noticing Bella's expression.

"We'll help you, and Edward can help you with _anything_ you want." Emmett said pointedly with a stupid grin on his face. It's not a secret that Bella and Edward feel something towards each other. Apparently, Bella and Edward are the only ones who don't know.

Rose and Alice slapped Emmett, hard on the head. "Ouch Rose! Alllllice! What did I do?" I bit my lip to hide a grin. I looked up, at the same time Anthony did, and we quickly looked away. Unfortunately, I looked at Alice's direction. She was looking at me and she looked like she knows too much for my liking.

"Alright everyone, now that's everything. Now do what you'll need to do." Carlisle concluded. Everyone nodded.

"Verity dear, what would you like for dinner?" Esme asked.

"Surprise me." I told her.

She smiled. She disappeared with everyone else and 20 minutes later she bought in a plate of spaghetti and some cutlery.

"How did you know?" I took the plate from her. Spaghetti was one of my favorites.

"It's called being a mother." She smiled at me warmly and handed me the cutlery. I suppose she's my mother now.

"Thanks mom." I said to her. To my surprise, the word mom came out naturally. It felt right, like I was meant to say this all along.

She beamed at me. "You're welcome, sweetheart."

It turned out to be one of the best spaghettis I've ever had. I ate it at incredible speed, and then I was bloated when I finished the plate. I was about to get up rinse my dishes when Esme took it from me.

"Don't be silly, dear." She said. I smiled at her.

I walked up to my room to unpack. It was the room directly opposite Anthony's'.

I didn't have a lot of unpacking to do; it would have looks suspicious if a most of my things went missing in my room at Charlie's. Besides, knowing Alice, she's fill up Bella and mine wardrobe in no time.

I took some clean clothes and my toiletry bag from my overnight bag, and then walked into the shower. I took my time, showering, and once I was done, I walked back into my bedroom.

To my surprise, Carlisle was there, his eyes a light gold.

"Hello Verity. I would like to give you these things." He handed me a gold credit card and a silver mobile phone.

"This card is for you to use on whatever you like. Don't worry about money. And the mobile have all our numbers in its contact already." He smiled at me.

I was a little shocked; I didn't expect this. But gratefully, I smiled at him and took it. "Thanks." I said happily.

"No worries. I let you get some sleep now, tomorrow is going to be a long day. Good night."

"Good night." I crawled into the bed and drowned myself in the comfortableness of it.

* * *

"Wake up Verity!" Someone sang. Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and saw Alice pulling my comforter off me.

"Hey!" I shouted, trying to grab my comforter. But what chances did a human have against a vampire when it comes to strength?

"Come on V, we have a lot to do before school." I looked at my alarm clock; it was ten past seven.

"Let me get to sleep, school doesn't start until eight forty-five and with your maniac driving it'll take us five minutes, literally, to get there." I argued with her, while hugging my pillow and closing my eyes. I felt my pillow disappear, unwillingly; I looked up and saw an unhappy looking Alice.

"You should be grateful that I let you sleep this late! I was going to wake you up at six" I felt my eyes widen in horror "but Anthony persuaded me. I wasn't even going to budge but he promised to hold my bags on my next shopping trip! So get up now!" Alice demanded.

I felt happiness spread through out me; Anthony hated shopping with Alice about as much as Bella did, yet he was willing to do it for me! It was so sweet and- _Hold it Verit_y, I told myself. _He's probably just making up for the accident. Besides, why would he love someone like me when he's perfect, even for a vampire? _I didn't have any self esteem issues, it's just, when you're living with nine PERFECT – in everyway – immortals, no mortals can compete with them, except maybe in eating human foods.

"Go and take a shower, then meet me at my room. Hurry." Alice told me, breaking me out of my trance. I sighed, and then obeyed my instructions.

Once I walked out of my room, I saw Anthony walking out of his as well. He was wearing dark jeans and a tight black T-shirt. I smiled; even in the most casual clothes he looked absolutely perfect.

"Good morning, and thanks for giving up your time so I can have more sleep." I thanked him.

"You're quite welcome. Where are you going?" He asked with an amused expression on his face.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "As if you don't know." I said. I grimaced as I thought of what Alice is planning to do to me. I couldn't believe I used to like makeovers. He laughed. I glared at him.

"You think it's funny? Well, I can easily persuade Alice to give _you_ a makeover, with _pink_ nail polish." I threatened. Immediately he stopped laughing.

I walked past him, smiling in triumph. When I got to Alice's room, she literally attacked me. Alice has foreseen that today would be cloudy, but very warm. So forty minutes later, I was dressed in an elegant white summer dress that went to my mid thighs, and wearing a pair of simple black sandals. My long mahogany hair was curled in waves, and tied in a loose ponytail using a white ribbon. She tried to give me a LOT of make up, but I put my foot down. To make her let me go, I unwillingly accepted the mascara, then promised to let her apply lipstick to me after breakfast.

Once she let me go, I sighed in relief. Heading downstairs to the kitchen, I saw Esme sitting in a chair, reading a book. A huge tray of breakfast was next to her.

"Good morning dear, how did you sleep? Oh, and that's for you." She pointed to the tray.

"My sleep was fine, and thanks for the breakfast." I smiled at her.

"It's nothing dear." She said.

After I was full, Esme cleaned up. I insisted on helping but she pointed out that Alice would kill me – not literally – if my dress got dirty, so I agreed.

I walked into the lounge, finding everyone is already there. Alice immediately attacked me with lipstick.

"Good morning." I said once Alice was done, and then popped myself next to Bella who was on the couch. She had a pile of books next to her, and she was reading Romeo and Juliet.

"Morning Verity." Everyone answered.

I looked at Bella; she was wearing something similar to mine, except she wore no make up, not that she needed any.

"How did you manage to get out of wearing make up?" I asked. Knowing Alice, a makeover isn't complete without make up.

"A good little threat can be really handy sometimes; I promised to burn her clothes the next time she's going hunting." She wiggled her eyebrows evilly. I laughed.

"Good one." I high-fived her.

I grabbed one of the books, and lost myself in _Pride and Prejudice. _Five minutes later, or so it seemed to me, it was time to go.

"Alright, Alice, Jasper, Rose and Emmett can take the Toyota." Carlisle instructed. They wrinkled their noses; the Toyota is the slowest and the cheapest car out of all ten cars the Cullens owned.

"Verity, Bella, Anthony and Edward can take Edward's Volvo." Carlisle said. Emmett started to complain.

"That's not fair, how come Edward gets to drive his car?" Emmett whined.

"Because when he bought his cars, he decided it would be useful to buy a none-flashy car." Carlisle said.

"Alright kids, have a nice day at school. Emmett, no pranks." Carlisle warned Emmett one last time before he 'disappeared'.

We grabbed our stuff, and got into the car, and as I predicted, it only took five minutes for us to get there. This school was bigger than Forks High School. Needless to say, we attracted a lot of attention as we walked to the reception together.

Alaska Anglican School has quite an interesting education system. From grade nine onwards, classes gets mixed between the four grades. During class textbooks are read, and questions are to be asked during class if there is any trouble. There isn't the usual lecture before each new topic.

Once we walked into the reception, me, being on the 'oldest' sibling, acted as our spokesperson.

"Good morning, we are the Swans, Cullens and Hales, and we're here to get our schedules." I said, smiling at the female receptionist.

Her eyes gazed over as she looked at the men. I felt unnaturally angry when she rested her eyes on Anthony. I cleared my throat.

"Oh, uh, yes. I have your schedules here. Have a nice day." She said, looking a bit flushed. Resisting the urge to roll my eyes at her, I grabbed the papers from her walked out of the reception with my siblings. We walked to a table and sat down, then I handed the schedules out.

"Oh Verity what do you have?" Alice asked. I looked down; it said that I have English, Gym, Government, and Spanish, lunch C then Biology. She grimaced in disappointment.

"Awww I only have gym, Spanish and lunch with you!" she said.

"It's okay; at least we all have lunch together." I said, trying to comfort her.

After comparing with the rest of the group, I discovered that I have English with Jasper, Bella and Rose, gym with Alice and Bella, Government with Edward, Spanish with Rose, Emmett and Alice, then Biology with Anthony. Overall not too bad; there was at least one of my siblings in each of my classes.

The bell rang, so we walked to our classes. We were slightly late; Rose needed to grab something from the car.

"Hello, we're the Hales and Swans, sorry we're late." I apologized.

The teachers' eyes couldn't seem to drag it self away from Rose's body. This time Jasper cleared his throat.

"Hello, my name is Mr. Parker. Since this is your first lesson, I won't give you a detention. Would you like to introduce yourselves?" He said in a pathetic attempt to cover his embarrassment.

"Um, fine. My name is Verity, and this is my twin sister Bella Swan. That's Rosalie and Jasper Hale. We're both foster children and have lived with Mr. and Mrs. Cullen for a very long time. We have four other siblings; Alice, Emmett, Anthony and Edward Cullen." I said.

"Alright. Everyone, can you please welcome them to Alaska Anglican School." He said as he started to clap. Everyone else followed his example. We gave everyone a smile as we took a seat in a spare table where no one sat.

"Rose do you think he even saw your _face_?" Jasper whispered, snickering.

"Shut up." Rose said softly, glaring at Jasper. I bit my lip hard to stop laughing.

As I read my textbook, I was glad to see it was rather easy, but annoyed to see so _much_. Rose and Jasper finished theirs in minutes and were talking in vampire speed. Bella finished hers not long after and joined in their conversation. I managed to complete mine just before the bell rang.

I sighed; gym was next. Being Bella partner in sport for the previous years disinterested my liking in that subject as well. Bella and I waved goodbye to Jazz and Rose, then found ourselves in a hug thanks to Alice.

"Are you looking forward to gym?" Alice asked, smirking as she already knew the answer.

"That's just like asking, do you like shopping." Bella said unhappily. Although she's a vampire now, she still hates any type of sport. I never understood why; it's not like she trips over air now.

We got there, and Alice foreseen that if we walked up to the Coach first, he'd let off from doing sport today. But the coach was being a bit difficult, something Alice didn't see. However after a few heart breaking expressions displayed on Alice's angelic face, he gave in. We spent the rest of the lesson, sitting in a corner, talking.

Government and Spanish went by without much of an issue. Emmett had found out that Parker was gawking at Rose and was too busy thinking of ways to torture him to think of pranks. Then it was lunch time. Rose, Emmett, Alice and I meet our siblings outside the Spanish classroom. Together we walked into the cafeteria.

Once we walked past the doors, everyone went silent. People were gawking at my family; I was surprised to see that even a few guys were gawking at me!

"Let's sit over there, in that table near the corner." Alice suggested. We nodded, and walked over.

The girls went to buy some lunch first, while the guys sat at the table to make sure no one takes it. We walked into the line, and the vampires began picking random stuff. I choose an apple and a bottle of water; the hot food didn't look very appetizing.

We paid for our food, and then suddenly Alice went blank for a few seconds. After she resurfaced she had a big smile on her face, but she wouldn't tell us what she saw. Annoyed, I began to walk faster back to our table. Suddenly tall blonde jumped in front of me, giving me a fright.

"Hey babe, my name is John, you know you will go out with me, tonight." he said. It wasn't a question, it was an instruction.

I felt shock register on my face; he had just told me his name, not bothering with mine, and instructed me to go out with him. Who does he think he is?

I felt a cold arm wrapped itself around my waist. I looked up, and saw Anthony; his eyes pitch black in fury, and giving John a death glare.

"Sorry _John_," he snarled at his name. "Verity can't go out with you, ever, because she already has a boyfriend."

My heartbeat started to beat a mile per minute; what did he mean?

John took a step back, probably frightened at the look on Anthony's face. Then he began to _run_ back to his table.

Anthony kept his arm around my waist as we walked back to the table. I could feel everyone's eyes on us, and it made me feel extremely uncomfortable. Once we sat down, I looked at him questioningly.

He looked at me apologetically as he pulled his arm away. "Sorry Verity, I don't know what got over me. His thoughts were very disturbing and I just kind of snapped." He whispered.

I smiled at him. I felt… disappointed for some reason but I was glad at the same time. I couldn't help but remembering the way his arm felt around my waist. _Snap out of it_, I told myself.

"That's okay. I should say thanks for saving me back there." I said.

He smiled, and he looked kind of nervous, somehow. "Hey, I was wondering if you can help me with something." He said.

I was curious; what kind of help would he need from _me_?

"Go on." I said casually.

"Can you pretend that you're my girlfriend? So the girls would stop chasing me, and vice versa." He said, rather quickly. But I caught every word.

"Unless you don't want to, of course. I mean, I thought you might want to after that John incident, I was just suggestin-"I cut him off.

"No no, it's just that I'm a little surprised. Okay, I'd be happy to help. Unless you changed your mind, I mean, with _your_ speed." I teased him a little.

A huge smile broke out on his angelic face. "No, thank you." Wow, he didn't even tease me back. He must be really happy. But why would he be this happy to pretending a romantic relationship with _me_?

"Glad to help." I turned around to talk to Rose.

Lunch passed too quickly for my liking. I had a great time talking and laughing with my siblings. Yes, they're me and Bella's siblings now. It was easier- and much quicker- to like and care for them then I thought was possible.

When the bell rang, Anthony and I played our parts. He wrapped his arm around my waist and held my books as we walked to Biology. I was really embarrassed because I was sure he could hear my screaming heartbeat; whenever he touches me, my heartbeat would break another record in the world book.

I liked the teacher immediately; he didn't make us introduce ourselves. He sent us to the backseat and we took a seat next to each other.

I couldn't concentrate for the rest of the lesson; all I could think about was Anthony, sitting next to me, and the 'relationship' we're having. I tried not to peak at him too much, but every time I look did, I could swear that he was _just _turning his perfect head away.

When the lesson ended, we were greeted by our siblings outside the class room. Alice had a huge grin on her face, but she wouldn't tell us what she saw. I looked at Anthony for some details inside her head, but he shook his head at me, indicating that Alice was blocking her mind as well. I frowned; I knew Alice wouldn't let anything bad happen to the family, but embarrassing a few people every now and then...

After our 'hellos' said, we began to walk to the car park. I walked with Bella, while Anthony and Edward walked together. Suddenly I felt a hand tapping my shoulders; I turned around to see a tanned blonde.

"Is it true, that _you_ are going out with Anthony Cullen?" She asked, stressing the 'you'. She then proceeded to give me the up-and-down look. I felt a stab of anger; I know standing with the vampires made my face looks no longer so attractive, but I was still pretty for a human.

"I don't see how that's any of _your_ business." I said, smiling sweetly at her.

"Oh it is my business alright." She said, glaring. "I don't see how the most PERFECT guy on the planet is going out with someone like YOU, while PRETTY people like ME, isn't."

I almost choked; if I was asked to make a list of the top fifty words I would use to describe her, the definition 'pretty' would not most defiantly not made it.

I was about to say something when I felt Anthony's arm wrap itself around my waist again.

"Is there something wrong sweetheart?" He said to me, ignoring the girl. "Oh, and did I tell you how beautiful you look today, as always?"

My heart was beating loudly; what was I angry about again? I shook my head to collect my thoughts.

"Only about a million times." I said, smiling happily at him. What he did next surprised everyone.

Gently, he pressed his marble lips to mine.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Anthony's POV

It was going to be like any other day of my existence. Boring, annoying and frustrating; boring because we know more than the teachers, annoying because of all the lustful thoughts and images about you and frustrating because you cannot walk up to them and tell them to stop thinking about you. I sighed; if this is going to happen through out my existence, I will go and provoke the Volturi soon.

Suddenly Alice gave me a glare. Ahh of cause, she saw my decision.

_Don't think like that, ever again! Do you know what it'll do to Esme? Or anyone of us? Do you care? Besides, why can't you just take my advice; find a girl then life won't be so bad! _She screamed at me in her head.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at her; Alice have been pestering me about 'finding a girl, and then the reasons for existing will be much _much_ brighter' her words, not mine. I never thought that I would bet against Alice, but that day has come.

"Yes Alice." I mumbled, quiet enough only for her to hear. I wasn't making any promises; 'yes Alice' could have referred to anything.

We got into me and Edwards' cars, and then we speed towards Forks High School. Absent minded, I looked around at the student cars; nice cars isn't a regular at Forks. I was a little surprised when I saw a brand new snow white 2006 3.2 V6 S-Tronic Audi. It must belong to Chief Swan's daughters. They were the main gossip at Forks High School for a few days now, apparently today was their first day.

After a few periods, the only period I remotely liked, Lunch had finally arrived. By then, I had 'seen' enough of the Swans; all the sick minded human boys are imagining them with less clothing to be decent.

"Who are they?" I heard a soft voice ask. I glanced in the direction of the voice briefly; two petite pale skinned twins sat next to Jessica Stanley, the biggest gossiper I've seen in my 108 years of existence. The twins must be the Swan sisters.

The gossip queen proceeded to give the dirt on the Cullens. I decided to tune them out.

Then lunch was over. Rose and Alice had left to 'go to the bathroom', but I knew from their thoughts that they were going to meet the Swans. It is weird because they never interact with human. There should be a college course on how to understand women's minds; even with my extra ability it is not often that I can predict Alice, Rose or Esme's mind. Sighing, I waved goodbye to my siblings then proceeded to Biology.

Class had already begun when someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," Banner said, obviously annoyed that someone interrupted his 'important' lecture.

Two girls walked in. "Hi Mr. Banner, sorry we're late. This is Bella and I'm Verity Swan." The one with mahogany hair smiled apologetically. Her smile was beautiful. Instantly Banner softened; he didn't give his usual detention.

"Alright girls, don't be late again. Since you're both new, why won't you introduce yourselves?"

Verity looked uncomfortable. Curious about her thoughts, I tried to peek into it. Nothing. I couldn't hear a whisper.

"Hi, um, my name is Verity and this is my twin Bella. Bella is really into reading and I love shopping. We both love listening to classical music. Bella loves Chinese food and I love Italian." She said.

"Alright girls, take a seat. One of you take a seat next to Mr. Cullen. The other takes a seat in that spare desk over here." Banner said. I heard a collective groan from the girls. Interested, I focused on their thoughts. Nothing. Bella was just like her sister, I couldn't hear anything. Frowning in frustration, I neatly stacked my books on my side of the desk.

Bella took the seat in the spare desk, causing Verity to give her a glare. Then she glanced at me, suddenly her heartbeat seemed to be running a marathon. I snickered. Shyly, she took the seat next to me. For the first time, I noticed her eyes; it was a beautiful electric blue.

"Alright class, as I was saying," Banner glanced at Verity, "open up your biology text book to page 65. I would like you to read it to yourself, and then work on exercise 6.5, 6.6, 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9. You've got forty minutes, and what isn't completed is left for homework. Time starts from now."

I finished the work within ten minutes. Finishing earlier was a really tempting thought, but I didn't want to attract attention to myself. Finding myself bored, I stared at Verity. Once again, I tried to break into her thoughts. Blank. I could almost feel my eyes turn dark; this was so much more frustrating than wanting to tell human girls to stop thinking about my family and me.

She finished the work soon after me. After looking at her sister Bella, she peeked at me. Immediately she looked away, her heartbeat going crazier than before. I felt bad; this girl didn't do anything to me.

As if to make amends, I tapped her should carefully. "Hello, my name is Anthony. I don't think I've had a chance to introduce myself before." I smiled at her.

She seemed a little dazed. "I'm Verity." She held out her hand for me to shake.

I took it carefully; it was extremely soft, felt like touching a piece of warm cotton.

"Pleasure. I heard that you have a shopping trip with my sisters Alice and Rosalie today after school?" Alice was so happy about the shopping trip that she kept repeating it in her mind.

"Yes. Bella and I need a few necessarities. Besides, it was hard to refuse Alice." She smiled, but more naturally this time. The smile was absolutely beautiful.

I laughed. "Yes, Alice tends to have that effect on people." I knew that too well.

The bell rang; immediately I grabbed my books. Verity waved goodbye to me. I returned her gesture, and then hurried outside.

After I drove home, at once I walked into my room. Putting on Debussy, I began reading _Pride and Prejudice_. But I couldn't seem to pull my mind away from Verity and her smile.

Around 10p.m., Alice, Rose, Verity and Bella walked into the door. Esme told me the girls would be sleeping over, so I sat next to Jasper; just in case he loses control; he hadn't hunted for a while. Edward sat next to me as well; we've always being closer to each other considering we are related in our human families.

We turned out heads around. Bella blushed, for some reason. And then she tripped. Blood was oozing from her hand.

"Shoot," She muttered.

Immediately I fought the inner monster in me as I gripped Jasper's hand, and Emmett held Jasper's arm behind him tightly.

But it wasn't only Jasper who needed control that night.

Edward jumped on Bella, and bit into her hand. I heard a heart shattering scream coming from Verity. Immediately I glanced at her, looking for any signs injury. Thankfully she was fine. But her face was mounted into a horror mask; she was realizing something.

I ran at vampire speed and tore Edward away; Emmett was handling Jasper fairly well. Rose had crouched in a protective stance in front of Verity, who was on the floor because she was tossed back by Alice.

Esme and I managed to get him outside. After ten miles into the forest, he stopped slashing. And then he sat down, and held his head in his hands.

"Oh God, what have I done?" he whispered.

Esme sat next to him, and then put her arms around him. "You've meet a singer. It wasn't your fault; you couldn't control yourself. It's almost impossible to resist a singer." She stated simply.

"It's ok, everyone makes a mistake once in a while. We can't all be Carlisle. What matters now is the future; what's going to happen to them?" They knew who I meant.

"Carlisle's explaining to Verity at the moment. As for Bella, there isn't anything we can do, except to take care of her." Esme told him.

"Let's go hunting." I suggested. I didn't need Jasper to tell that the guilt Edward was feeling was very strong.

"Yes honey, you needed to go anyways." Esme joined in.

"Fine." He answered, his voice croaked.

After hours of hunting, we had returned to our house. Bella was moved to the basement and Verity was in the guest room.

_The next morning…_

I needed some time by myself. Grabbing my Ipod, along with _Pride and Prejudice_, I went into a meadow that Edward uses sometimes.

Setting the Ipod on shuffle, I sat with my back leaned against a tree. But for some reason, my mind kept drifting back to Verity. Her smile, her laugh, her voice, and everything about her. And then her decision appeared in my mind.

I was disappointed that she chose to stay human. Just like those feelings I have towards her, it's unexplainable. But it's getting more and more frustrating. Soon, I may have to talk to Esme about it.

That's it! I'll talk to Esme about it. I was about to stood up when I sensed Esme's scent approaching me.

"Alice told me that you want to talk to me. Go ahead sweetie." She sat next to me.

"Thanks mom. I don't know how to explain this." I let out a low growl in frustration.

"Why not start from the beginning?" She suggested.

So I did. I told her everything, from the first time I saw her, our first conversation, the feelings I've been having towards her. When I finished, Esme had the biggest smile on her face.

"You're in love." She stated, while grinning happily.

I almost gagged. Me, in love?! What a joke. "Stop it Esme."

"Can you think of another reason why you're feeling this way?" She demanded.

Determined to prove Esme wrong, I thought hard. But Esme was right; I couldn't come up with a better reason. And whenever I think of her, these happy feeling floats inside me. It fits.

"I'm in love." I repeated, like I was checking with Esme.

Esme hugged me. "Yes sweetheart, you're in love. What are you planning to do now?" she asked.

"What can I do now? She isn't a vampire, and she doesn't plan to become one either. I can't read her thoughts to find out about how she feels towards me, and she'd probably refuse me anyways because, this is against the natural order of things. Vampires are not meant to mate with humans." I told her, suddenly feeling dreadful.

"Why don't you ask Jasper? He's the real expert on how people feel." Esme advised.

I thought about it. "No." I said, firm on my decision.

"Why?" Esme felt surprised. _Why wouldn't he ask Jasper? _She thought mentally.

"Because if she hates me, I don't want to know and if I ask Jasper, I'll find out." I said.

"Oh honey, she won't hate you? Why would she?" Esme said. _He's a caring, kind, beautiful and talented boy. Why would she hate him? _

"Please, just don't ask Jasper about it."

"Fine. I'll let you do that when you're ready." Esme sighed.

"Thanks." I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew Esme only meant well, but this was not what I wanted.

"Let's head back now. The movies that the girls are watching is about to finish, I think." She said.

"Okay."

After we got into the house, I sat myself on the couch, next to Emmett. Esme went to see Carlisle. And then I heard good news from Alice's thoughts.

"Guys, Bella's transformation is going to be complete in a few minutes! The girls are coming downstairs now." I said.

"Hi Verity." Emmett grinned at her.

"Hey Verity." I smiled at her.

She beamed at the two of us. Immediately I relaxed; she's not angry at me! Rosalie thought similar.

_I'm so glad she's not angry at Emmett. _

Jasper and Emmett smiled at her. She nodded at them to show she held no anger against them. Jasper was slightly relieved, but he could sense that she still feels resentment against him.

She sat on the end of the couch; Alice sat herself next to her.

"So how does this vision of yours work?" she asked Alice. I just noticed how engaging her voice sounds.

Alice proceeded to explain.

Verity hesitated before she asked "So on…_that _night there was no way you would have seen what would have happened?"

Alice explained again. Verity seemed relieved. I was confused; why would she be relieved there was no way that the biggest – possibly worst – change in her life could not be prevented?

Before I could ask her, the basement door opened, revealing Bella as she walked into the room.

I have to admit, she have became much more beautiful. She's the brunette version of Rosalie. But compared to Verity, Bella didn't seem so beautiful. In fact, no one will seem beautiful after been compared to Verity.

_She is…beautiful. More than the skin, but I can't be sure. I have to understand her better._ Edward thought. Did Edward just describe a girl using the adjective 'beautiful'?

Then Edward glared at me. _Yes I just did. _

_Relax Eddie._ I teased him.

He ignored me. Instead, he stared at Bella longer. And then he walked up to her.

"Bella… I am so sorry." He said as he stared into her eyes, his face full of guilt and sadness.

"I-I, uh, um, don't worry, about it. I meant, don't worry about it. At least I'm no longer clumsy." She said, trying to make a joke out of it. I smiled; my new sister is very forgiving.

"And much more beautiful." Edward whispered. For those of us who _knows_, we smirked in union.

Carlisle cleared his throat. "Well, Bella and Verity, welcome to the Cullen family."

_Four days later…_

We had planned out how the girl's 'deaths' were going to go. As I played my part, I felt enormous gilt; Charlie Swan is a dedicated man, he cares for the town of Forks more than his life itself. It wasn't fair for him to loose his only daughters this way.

I smiled as I thought about the times I've spent with Verity. She and her sister are really delightful people to be around with. I found myself more and more engrossed by her everyday.

Right now, Edward, Bella, Verity and I are in grade 11. I think Esme told Carlisle to arrange it this way so Edward and I could get close to the girls.

And then I thought about the kiss.

I wasn't meant to kiss her; I didn't mean to insult her. The rude girl was being mean to her, and I sort of snapped. All I had meant to do was come to her rescue. But instead, my lips kissed her. It was as if my body was controlled by someone else.

The moment I rested my lips on hers, I expected her to shift away. But to my surprise, she kissed me back. We forgot about the rude girl as our lips moved against each other. It was perfect. But when we broke apart, she couldn't seem to bring herself to look at me.

From then on, she always tried to avoid me. And blushed whenever I was in the room. This had a huge impact upon me. I felt rejected and ashamed; how could I insult an angel this way?

Sighing, I stood up silently, and then began to walk outside; I needed to do something to preoccupy my mind. Hunting sounds good.

Suddenly someone knocked on my door.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Verity's POV

"_Gently, he pressed his marble lips to mine."_

I froze, but it was as if someone controlled my body, I kissed him back.

It felt amazing; his lips were guarded, and it was very soft. Electric was pulsing through my veins, making my blood pumping a new world record. I – or we – forgot about the blonde as we kissed. It seemed like an eternity until we broke apart.

Refusing to look at him, I stared at the ground. I knew if I did, his eyes would hold regret and possibly anger. Why would he, the perfect immortal, feel any joy, in kissing _me_?

After an uncomfortable silence, I cleared my throat and mumbled "Rose can we change seats?"

"Sure." She said, confusion replacing happiness on her flawless face.

The ride home was quiet. No one talked, at least loud enough for me to hear. I was grateful for the silence; I didn't want anyone to ask me about _it_.

The next day, things had become really awkward between me and Anthony. I tried my best to avoid him; I wanted to avoid the 'I'm sorry, it was a mistake' conversation for as long as much as possible. Living in my fantasy was a much ideal place; my lips were still swollen from the kiss. Feeling blissful, I smiled.

Someone knocked on my door, snapping me out of my fantasies.

"Come in," I called, my cheeks a bit flushed.

Alice and Rosalie walked in, and then sat on my bed.

"We need to talk. It's time to sort out things between you and the prudemo." Rose declared.

I felt the blood drench from my face; I didn't want to talk about this to anyone, knowing Anthony could possibly hear me.

"Don't worry. We're blocking prudemo in our minds and he's too much in dreamland to wake up and hear us anyways. Tell us, why didn't you look up when you two broke apart? And how do you feel about him?" Alice questioned.

"Yes, and it's best if you start talking; we've got ways to make you cave. The easy way, or the hard way, you choose. Shopping/Make-overs then talk, or no shopping/make-overs." Rose smiled sweetly at me.

I cringed at the thought of shopping/make-overs with Alice. And Rose. I've never really went shopping with Rosalie before but I wasn't sure if I wanted to found out if her shopping habits are similar to Alice. Sighing, I sat up and faced them. They smiled in triumph; they knew I had given in.

"I thought, no I _knew_, if I had looked up, I would have saw regret and anger in his eyes. I mean, look at me!" I gestured at my body to their shocked/angry face. Why would they be shocked? It's kind of obvious. I suppressed that thought and continued. "Pretty, but in human standards. Anthony's perfect, even for a vampire. I want to live in dreamland where he didn't regret that kiss. I care about him too much, too much for what he's going to say, and what he's going to do."

Silence.

After a few seconds, Alice collected herself. "V-Verity, you're the prettiest human I've ever seen. You, of all people shouldn't have self-confidence issues."

"Yeah," Rose continued, "humans shouldn't be this pretty. And if I ever hear you say that about yourself again, no chocolate for you for a month."

"If you're living with nine perfect immortals, you'd feel the same way." I told them.

"But…ugh I can't tell you! I've seen this. Please, just talk to him. Sort it out. I am your sister/best friend, I wouldn't hurt you. Just trust me on this one, go and talk to Anthony." Alice said a little frustrated.

I knew I'd had to come out of my happy land some time, but I didn't know – or hoped – that I had to do it so soon.

"Fine." I sighed again.

Relief was plastered on both vampires' face. They high-fived each other.

"One more thing," Alice said, a little too innocently, "did you enjoy that kiss? And details."

My face burned, almost literally. I was about to open my mouth in protest, but Alice cut across me.

"Don't try to say no, you know that if you do, Rose and I have just the thing for you."

I shuddered. "Yes, I did.. He made me wanting more." Maybe I should buy a copy of _How to control people 101 – for dummies. _

"Go and talk to Anthony in 15 minutes. Rose, come to my room. Good luck Verity, not that you'll need it." Alice danced towards the door. Rose followed her.

**Anthony's POV**

"_Suddenly someone knocked on my door."_

I could smell Alice's scent. What did she need to talk to me about? Curious, I listened to her 'inner voice'. She was blocking me; this can't be good. "Come in," I called softly, while positioning myself at the window; I really don't feel like shopping now, or ever.

Alice opened the door quietly and talked in vampire speed. "Listen, we need to sort things out between you and Verity. She's coming in here in about fifteen minutes."

I could feel shock register on my face. Verity's going to talking to me?

"Snap out of it thong." Alice snapped. I growled at her; I hate that nickname. "We don't have much time, listen; we both know you love Verity. And I know you've enjoyed that kiss." She held up a hand to stop my about to protest mouth "Don't even try to deny it. But do you want to know what she felt? I've already seen your answer so I'm going tell you. She said, and I quote" she did a perfect imitation of Verity's voice ""I did. He made me wanting more"."

She went blank for a few seconds. "Oh no, she's coming in forty seconds. Good luck, not that you'll need it." She then ran at vampire speed into her room.

_Okay,_ I thought. _What was that about? _Alice must be really desperate for me 'get a girl'. As much as I hoped that Verity did say that, I can't let myself hope. But it's time to sort this out between me and Verity.

**To clear things up…**

**Prudemo: Prude/emo (not really emo, Anthony was just a bit negative about life)**

**Thong: there will be future chapters explaining that nickname.**


	9. Chapter 9

Verity's POV

Verity's POV

It's better if I just get this over and done with. Just do it and move on with life. I told myself. Yet something was telling me that life was never going to be the same again.

I walked out of my room. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on Anthony's door.

"It's me, can I come in?" I whispered, knowing he could still hear me.

Suddenly the door was opened, and he stood in the doorway. "Yes." He stepped aside and let me in.

Not in the mood to check out anything, I just walked over to the sofa and sat down. He followed my example at human speed; maybe not to frighten me.

I didn't know how to start. I couldn't even bring myself to look at him.

Silence rang in the air for a few minutes.

Before I knew it, I had begun to talk a mile per minute. "Look I'm really sorry, I don't know what had got over me. I'm really sorry. Is there any way where I can make up for that?" This time I looked up. Bracing myself for what was expected; regret and sadness ringing clearly in his golden eyes. But to my surprise, I saw anger, passion and… _love_?

So this was how I found myself, a few minutes later, in a tight embrace with Anthony, our lips tight in a lip lock. Unexpectedly he broke apart.

"I love you Verity. I had never expected to feel this way about anyone in this pathetic existence of mine. You made my reasons for living shine to me. I know I don't deserve your love; a monster like me shouldn't even _taste_ love. It is okay if you don't want me the same way I want you; I understand. But right now, I NEED to know; do you feel the same way about me?" He said his voice full of passion as he gazed into my eyes.

He looked nothing like the century old creature he is. His golden eyes molten, melting my own. I couldn't look away from his eyes, in fact, at that moment; there wasn't anything I can do other than stare at him.

I was pretty sure I was dreaming.

**Anthony's POV**

"It's me, can I come in?" Verity's voice whispered.

I ran over at vampire speed and opened the door. "Yes." I said as I stood aside to let her in.

She walked over to my sofa and sat down. I copied her.

I waited patiently for her to begin talking. My face set in a stone mask, I braced myself for what she might say.

For a while, she didn't say anything. She didn't even look at me.

"Look I'm really sorry, I don't know what had got over me. I'm really sorry. Is there any way where I can make up for that?" She said abruptly, almost fast enough in vampire speed.

At any other situation I would have find it funny. But then, I felt anger and a little sadness; she was sorry about kissing me? Then why did she kiss me back?

My mind once again lost control to my body. My body pulled Verity onto my lap, as my lips began to kiss her passionately. She stiffened, but relaxed as she kissed me back. I was sure everyone in the house could hear how loud her heartbeat was.

Our hands were tangled in each other's hair. I felt bliss ranging through out me; even though it doesn't seem like she loves me, this kiss will be enough to last me through out eternity.

I had to break apart then, she should know how I feel and I needed an answer from her.

"I love you Verity. I had never expected to feel this way about anyone in this pathetic existence of mine. You made my reasons for living shine to me. I know I don't deserve your love; a monster like me shouldn't even _taste_ love. It is okay if you don't want me the same way I want you; I understand. But right now, I NEED to know; do you feel the same way about me?" I said while I gazed into her beautiful electric blue eyes.

She didn't reply. She gazed into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity. Then she started crying.

Startled, I hugged her tighter. "What's wrong?" I asked her, concerned.

"I knew I am dreaming, and Renee always told me that dreams are opposite to what is going to happen in real life." she sobbed. I felt a huge grin broke out on my face; this meant she does care for me, in some form or another.

To prove to her that she is awake, I kissed her again. And again, and again.

"Shall I need to pinch you to make sure that you're awake?" I joked. To my relief, she let out a shaky laugh.

"No, I don't think so." She said. "Yes." She mumbled.

"Yes what?" My breath was caught in my throat.

"Yes, I do feel the same way about you. If not even more." She said.

What I felt then was possibly similar to how Neil Armstrong felt when he had first stepped on the moon. I had never experience similar experiences before. There weren't any words that I could use as a proper reply. Instead, I kissed her.

_A week later… (Saturday) _

Verity's POV

_BEEP…BEEP…BEEPBEEP…_ the digital alarm clock squealed. Sighing, I sat up, and stretched. Anthony was no where to be seen. An unnatural whelm of disappointment clouded me.

Ignoring that feeling, I glanced at the clock; it was 9:30 a.m. Rolling up my left arm pajama sleeve, I pinched my arm, hard. "Ouch!" I muttered. Okay, now I knew that I am awake, I know that the past week wasn't a dream, and most of all, Anthony loves me.

This had become a daily routine. Everything seemed too good to be true; I now have a mom who actually acts like a mom, a father figure, the best big brothers and big sisters, and my perfect boyfriend. With Renee, I love her but sometimes, I feel like I'm the parent.

"Rise and shine!" Bella said as she walked – at human pace – into my room. I can't get over the fact that now she can dance, work and run across surfaces without tripping over. I made the mistake of mentioning it to Emmett once, so now he's doing all he can to trip Bella over. This had turned into some sort of competition. There's even a scoreboard in the basement: **Em: 1, B: 4.** Bella's only in the lead because Edward has been helping her. Actually, not just Edward, Alice, Rose, Jasper, Esme, Carlisle and me are all proud members of Team Bella. Alice even went in to the mall and made shirts saying "Team Bella".

Bella pulled the curtain, showing the weather outside. It was a cloudy day, but the light was still bright compared to the room.

"Urgh!" I said, while rubbing my eyes, trying to adjust to the light. She bit her lip at my reaction. "I swear, if you do that one more time, I'm going to go all Team Em on you." I threatened.

"Sorry Vicky, it's just that, well, can you come down stairs quickly?" Her tone was a little too innocent, and there was a hint of desperation. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"What is it that you aren't telling me?" I said, still glaring.

"N-Nothing." She stuttered. I rolled my eyes at her; I guess some habits just cannot change. Even as a vampire, Bella still cannot lie convincingly.

"I am not going down stairs, even if the world is coming to an end." To show my determination, I crossed my arms,

Bella sighed. If she wanted, she could scoop me into her arms and bringing me downstairs, but she wouldn't. We never really had a discussion about it, but I suspect it's because she still wants to feel human.

A few seconds later, someone else entered the room. He slipped under my comforter. I felt a pair of marble arms put itself around me and its owner placing his cheek next to my neck. Instantly, my heart started its extreme exercise.

"Good morning angel. Sorry I had to leave you, I'll explain later." He said. And then he whispered "Alice is planning to play 'Varying-Verity' again. If you want, we still have the time to run for it."

So that's why Bella was so desperate to get me down stairs. She hates 'Bella-Barbie' more than I hate 'Varying-Verity'. "Please." I murmured.

Literally as quick as lightning, he went into my closet, grabbing a tracksuit pants, a jacket and a pair of sneakers. With that on one hand, and me on his back, he opened the window, jumped outside and ran to his black Audi. And then we speed off to an unknown destination, well, unknown to me.

"How come Alice didn't see this coming?" I asked as I struggled into my pants; it's not that easy if you're wearing pajama shorts underneath.

"I asked Jasper for help. He was… occupying her when I made the snap decision." He said, smug.

I laughed. "Oh, Alice is going to kill Jasper. How much did you have to bribe Jasper?"

"He didn't want to wrestle with Emmett, but Emmett wouldn't leave him alone. So, as a favor, I did. That's why I had to leave you this morning." He smiled.

I leaned over to give him a peek on the lips.

"What was that for? Not that I object, of course." He said.

"What? Can't a girl kiss her boyfriend for no reason?" I pretended to be offended. Immediately he began to apologize. He had been doing this for a while, apologizing for the smallest things, things that weren't his fault.

"Relax honey, I was joking." I put my hand over his mouth. "We need to have a talk. Why are you apologizing for everything? It's not just today. Is this some kind of nineteen hundred's gentleman tradition?" I spoke, half teasing.

It took a while until he answered me, but not meeting my eyes. "I don't deserve you. You, the perfect angel shouldn't be with a monster like me." Times like this I blame Edward for his influence on Anthony.

"Look at me." I commanded. "You, Anthony William Masen Cullen is the most caring, thoughtful, loving, beautiful, nice, intelligent, strong and romantic man I've ever meet. I'm the one who is lucky enough to have you, not the other way around. This is something we need to be clear of. So Anthony, if I hear you ever put yourself down like this again, I'll talk Alice into giving you a make-over."

He smiled at me. "What did I do to deserve you?" He said.

I smiled back at him.

Keen to change the topic, I said "And to answer your earlier question, that kiss was for being thoughtful. Thanks Anthony."

"Any time, anything for you love." He said.

"By the way, where are we going?" I asked.

"It's breakfast time for the mortal." He grinned at me.

He took me to the most expensive restaurant in town. I sighed; apparently the cheaper restaurants have 'terrible food', Alice's words, not mine.

Alice's POV

I was half way through with Bella's hair when this short vision hit me.

_Anthony opened the passengers' side of his Audi and helped Verity out of the car. She flashed him a stunning smile. Together they walked to the …_

I narrowed my eyes as I snapped back into reality. It was worse enough that I don't have two 'dolls' today. And now I'm going to miss out on this fabulous outing trip? I don't think so.

"Bella, you're free for the day. Rose, pack up. I'm going, unless you two want to come." I said, still a little angry.

Bella and Rosalie stared at me, shocked. "What?"

Rose composed herself first. "You've never just went half way with a make over before. And where are you going?"

"Verity and Anthony is going to go somewhere… fun. But they are going by themselves! Come on, let's pack and we're going with them. "

Bella nodded.

"Oh and Bella, can you go and invite the boys to come with us?" I asked sweetly.

"Sure." She went out the door.

I turned to Rose. "Okay, we're going to need…"

Verity's POV

After breakfast, Anthony paid and we went back to his Audi.

"Where are we going?" I asked, suddenly wary.

"You'll see. It's a surprise, love." He flashed me a grin.

Unlike Bella, I don't hate surprises. I just smiled and turned on the radio.

After fifteen minutes of driving – at maniac speed, might I add – we had stopped a car park. At this point I was still clueless to where we were going.

Being the gentleman he is, Anthony opened my door for me. I smiled at him. Once I had got out of the car, I took a good look around.

"Where are we?" I asked.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Verity's POV

"_Where are we?" I asked._

Anthony didn't answer. Instead he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Anthony?" I asked panicking.

"Looks like the plans of spending a day just us two had fallen. Our siblings are coming." He groaned.

If I was to be honest, I felt disappointed also. But I hid my feelings and comforted Anthony. "It's okay; we'll do something by ourselves later. Time is something we, well, you have plenty of."

He smiled at me as he took my hand. Somehow, his eyes held sadness. I would have a talk with him later.

"Let's wait over there, on that bench." He suggested. I agreed.

"You know, I'm still confused. Where are we?" I asked again.

"Where do you think we're at?" He said, a hint of amusement ringing in his eyes.

Now he's just indicating I'm stupid. I growled unimpressively at him.

"We're at a Zoo, love." He bent down and kissed me on the forehead. Instantly I felt dizzy; what was I angry about again?

Alice's POV

Rose slowed down as she drove into car park. Her love for attention has tamed down ever since she had became a vampire.

She parked next to Anthony's black Audi. Once I hopped out, I narrowed my eyes in Anthony's direction.

"Jasper, get my bag." I muttered before I ran – as slowly as possible in vampire speed – towards them.

Verity looked scared. "H-Hey Alice!"

"Don't worry Verity, you're not in trouble. However, Thong here will be getting a make over as soon as we get home." I smiled sweetly.

Anthony growled at me.

Looking interested, Verity said "Can someone please explain that nickname?"

"NO!" Anthony shouted. He then recovered. "I mean, shouldn't we line up for the tickets? The line is starting to get big."

I smirked. "Nice try dear brother of mine." I turned to the Emmett, who had just arrived. "Emmett, can you please explain to Verity about AnThong's nickname."

Anthony groaned. Knowing Emmett, he would make it as embarrassing as possible.

"It would be my pleasure." Emmett looked happy. "Well, V, four years ago, we had a visitor called John. You see, John have a special gift; he can make anyone drunk, including vampires. We got along fairly well. Anyways one day Anthony decided to challenge John. Anthony, of course beat John in wrestling. As a payback, John used his talent on him when went to the mall. So you can imagine this 6'2 guy, yelling on top of his lungs, that he wants to try every single thong in Victoria's secrets. I remember my personal favorite, a lacy black baby doll and g-string. We, of course filmed it and you should be able to find it on Youtube."

It brought a grin to my face as I remembered the images. Although it was disturbing, his face after he 'woke up' then remembered made it all worth it.

By this point Verity and Bella was holding on to their sides. Anthony's face was looking very scary. "You, me, wrestle as soon as we get home." He hissed to Emmett.

"Oh we're on!" Emmett grinned.

After Verity had finally some what come down, she wrapped Anthony into a hug. "I still love you, even though you wear thongs." She teased.

Without a word, Anthony picked Verity up and began to walk in the ticket booth.

Verity's POV

"Put me down Anth!" I demanded with a grin still on my face.

Obediently, he set me gently on my feet.

"It's okay; everyone had some kind of embarrassing moment in their life." I tried to sooth his embarrassment.

He smiled at me, we lined up. Patiently, we waited for our turn.

"Six adults." He said to the girl.

Her eyes glazed over as she stared at Anthony. I could felt myself turning green and steam blowing out of my ears. I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him. He gave me a smile.

The girl was glaring at me. I smiled back pleasantly. "Six adults." I repeated.

Ungracefully, she ripped six tickets as Anthony handed her cash. "Keep the change." He said.

I gave her a little finger wave as we left. "Have a nice day." Now my expression was smug.

"I never took you as the jealous type." Anthony breathed against my neck.

"I never took you as the thong wearing type." I replied.

"Let's just forget about this."

We handed our siblings their tickets, then we walked into the zoo together.

"Okay, so what do we see first?" Bella asked.

"The polar bears!"

"The kangaroos!" Emmett and Alice said at the same time.

"Rosalie!" They both turned to Rosalie for a decision.

"Rose, you know that I love you very much, right?" Alice put on her best pouting face. It was heart breaking.

"Rose honey, you're so beautiful, I just can't keep my hands to myself. Later tonight, my hands won't be still either." Emmett breathed against her hair. The rest of us wrinkled our nose in disgust. I felt sorry for Anthony and Edward; they get a visual image as well.

"Sorry Alice." Rosalie gave her an apologetic smile. "We'll go there after we see the polar bears."

Alice pouted. And then she glared at Emmett. "Don't even think about it." She said.

We all looked at Emmett. "What are you talking about?" He said innocently.

"Don't even think about going near the polar bears. They won't budge. And if we get kicked out of the zoo because of you, then your punishment will be worse then Anthony's'." She warned.

"Fine." Emmett sulked.

Rosalie wrapped her arm around him as she whispered something in his ears. He cheered up immediately. At times like this I'm glad I'm not a vampire with perfect hearing.

"Well, let's start walking shall we? The polar bears are on the other side of the zoo." I suggested. The other agreed.

Bella's POV

Our siblings began to walk with their mates. That leaves me and Edward to walk together.

"That was interesting. I never knew you could make a vampire drunk." I said to Edward, indicating about Anthony's accident.

"Yes. John is a very easy person to get along with." He smiled at a memory.

"Where is he now?" I asked.

"We had asked him to join our coven, but he declined. He said he prefers a single life. After that he left, promising to visit again some day."

Conversation continued to flow. Edward is a really easy person to get along with. Our talks were never awkward. Sometime silence made us content too. I felt really lucky to meet a guy like him. His presence alone made me feel safe and happy.

Verity's POV

"Anthony, when we go in, can you distract Edward? I need to have a talk with Bella." I whispered to him. I was getting concerned about Bella; she kept on having mood swings. Her mood swings were more often when she was spending time with Edward.

"Sure love." He said, understanding what I mean.

I smiled at him. "You could probably guess what I'm going to talk to her about."

"I can, but don't you think this isn't the right place to talk?" He said.

I frowned. "I can't do it at home, everyone will hear me. I can't just go out with her either, for the obvious reason. Some one has to come along and I want to talk to her privately first." I could feel myself getting worked up.

"Relax sweetheart." He began rubbing calming circles on my waist with his hands. I took a deep breath, and then smiled at him gratefully. I didn't want to ruin my day.

"Remember guys, this isn't a feast." I reminded the vampires before we entered the 'Ice' section.

Alice, Rosalie and Bella rolled their eyes. Emmett snorted.

As soon as we entered, Emmett raced off to the polar bears.

"I better make sure he doesn't do anything stupid." Rose muttered before she went after him.

"I want to see the seals! They look so _cuute_!" Alice squealed, pulling Jasper with her. She had probably seen my decision already. I would thank her later.

"Bella, come with me, let's go and see those penguins." I suggested. Bella nodded. I grabbed her hand and we began to walk away. I waited until we were a floor away from others before I began talking.

"What's up with you lately?" I asked.

"Nothing." She lied. I rolled my eyes; she was never going to learn that she couldn't lie.

She sighed in defeat. "It's Edward."

I narrowed my eyes. "What did he do to you? OMG he haven't done anything yet, had he? If he did I swear I'll…" Bella cut me off.

"No no, he didn't do anything. It's just me, but it's relating to him. I'm having these… _feelings_ for him. I am so happy to be with him, but whenever I see a girl flashing him a… flirty smile, I feel really angry. And whenever he's happy, it… _brightens_ my day. I've never felt this way before."

I felt a huge grin form on my face. "You, my dear sister, are in love." I was so happy for her. Now I've tasted love, I wanted her to have the same experience.

"I-I-I, _am_?" Clearly my answer threw her off guard; maybe she was expecting me to say she needed therapy.

"Yes, have you told him?" I asked.

"No, I mean, I didn't even know what it was myself. And we won't tell him." She looked at me seriously.

"Why? Oh please don't tell me it's your insecurity getting in the way." I stared at her in disbelief.

She didn't meet my eyes. "Look, it's not that. It's just, how can I be sure he feels the same way? I mean, even as a vampire, I'm nothing special. I'm not that smart, and I don't have a gift."

"You know that's only half true. Carlisle said it can take a decade for a power to show."

"Please. I'm just… not ready." She whispered.

I will need to talk to Carlisle later about Bella's problem. "We will talk about this later."

She gave me a forced smile, and then walked away.

I sighed; what was I going to do with Bella?


	11. Chapter 11

This chapter is dedicated to Suzanne B (who freaked out when she heard that I might not be continuing this story) and superdani152003 (who really, really rocks).

Verity's POV

"Where to now?" I smiled at Alice. She didn't reply, instead she had an expression I recognized. The vacant look in her eyes told me that she was seeing something very different to the scene in front of us. When she snapped back into reality, she addressed Anthony immediately in a sharp tone.

"Anthony. Watch." Her eyes had turned black.

Shocked, I focused my eyes on Anthony's face. First, his features showed confusion. Then anger; his eyes had gone black. He growled loudly.

Alice kicked him. "Appearance!" She hissed.

Anthony took a deep breath. "Sorry. Guys, we need to go home, immediately. Edward, Emmett, Alice and Verity we'll take my car. Let's leave."

"What's happening?" Rosalie demanded. Quickly, Anthony began to explain in vampire speed. The situation must have been serious because everyone had an identical look of surprise on their face.

"I'll tell you later love." Anthony whispered as he wrapped his hand around my waist, holding me close. Emmett walked in front of me, while Alice walked beside me. Rosalie, Edward, Jasper and Bella walked behind. I felt like I was surrounded by shields, beautiful inhuman shields.

Once we got to the cars, Anthony commanded that I sit in the 'baby seat' of his car, Edward and Emmett sits next to me while Alice sit in the front. No one talked as we drove on. Frustration was getting the better of me.

"Can someone please tell me what's going on God dammit!" I shouted.

"Nothing, love. Please, just relax." Anthony answered.

"How old do you think I am?" I demanded.

"She's right; Verity should know what's happening." Alice said. Anthony glared at her. She glared back. He then sighed in defeat.

"A coven is approaching us. They are-" he hesitated "-non-vegetarians. Alice cannot see how many is in that coven."

I felt blood drained out of my face. "Are we in danger?" I asked.

"No. But it's best to prepare for all situations. We're just being over cautious." He said. But I could hear the strain in his tone.

"What are we going to do?" I croaked out.

"YOU are going to do nothing. I'm going to hide you while the vampires meets this coven." He specified.

"B-B-But-" I stuttered. The idea of doing nothing scared me, and I had to do something.

"Look, Verity, let's think logically. What can you do? You're human." Alice reminded me.

I felt my shoulder slump in defeat; she had a point and it was a good one too. I sighed. "Fine. What's happening _now_?" I asked.

"We're going back to the house, and wait for these visitors. We meet them, then we decide what to do." Edward answered me.

The rest of the car trip was quiet. Once we arrived home, Anthony immediately grabbed me by the waist and he gave me a passionate kiss. It wasn't as guarded as the ones we shared before, which suited me just fine. He only broke apart to give me some air.

"Relax love, our coven is huge, we'll be fine." He tried to soothe me.

"Sure." I mumbled.

"Verity, honey, look at me." Anthony commanded. Reluctantly, I looked up into his now flaming eyes. "Would I let anything happen to you?" He asked as he stared into my eyes passionately.

"It's not me that I'm worried about. I'm worried about you guys, my family." I admitted.

"Verity, the person who should worry the most is you. Please, love, just relax. Trust us." He pleaded.

I nodded as a reply. I was losing my train of thoughts; it was hard not to forget everything while I was in Anthony's arms.

Anthony let go of his grip on my waist. Instead he kept an arm there as we walked into our home. Everyone else was already there, including our parents.

"As we all know, a coven is approaching us soon. We don't have time to hide Verity, so we shall stay, and meet this coven. Our family is very strong and we can get through this." Carlisle said.

"Two of us will stay with Verity at all times. She is not to be out of sight until these visitors are gone. Are we clear on that?" Carlisle asked.

A series of 'yes' was answered. "Good. How long now Alice?" Carlisle looked at Alice.

"Five minutes." She said, a mask of calm plastered on her face.

"And now, we wait."

The visitors did not keep us waiting for long. Five minutes later, all the vampires tensed. I suspected that the 'guests' had arrived. Sure enough, someone knocked on the door.

Carlisle walked over and opened the door, revealing a tough blonde and a fierce looking red head with burgundy eyes.

"Hello, my name is James, and this is my mate Victoria." He said. He scanned the room. Somehow, he seemed disappointed.

"My name is Carlisle, and this is my coven." He gestured towards us.

"Pleasure. Can we come in?" James asked.

"Of course." Carlisle stood aside and let him in.

At that moment, a gust of wind blew in. James froze. He took a deep breath, and his eyes rested on me.

"What's this" He exclaimed, taking a step forward in my direction. "You keep snacks?" His voice was incredulous.

Anthony, in response, growled at him, and crouched a defensive position in front of me.

"No, she's not a snack. She's Anthony's mate." Carlisle answered, his voice still polite. "And we would appreciate it if you refrain from feeding in our area. Please. We do have to keep up appearances."

"Of course, we will." Victoria spoke, for the first time since she had entered the room. Her voice was too sweet, as if there was too much honey in her voice.

"Well, Alice, why don't you take Verity to that shopping center you were talking about? And bring Emmett and Anthony; someone has to hold the bags." Carlisle ordered, looking at Anthony. Anthony nodded ever so slightly in response.

"Of course! And we can go and check out that new store! It's some kind of expensive Asian brand!" Alice squealed. She was good enough to fool everyone; but I saw the strain in her eyes.

"Fine." I groaned, playing my part.

"Let's go love." Anthony whispered in my ear. He wrapped a protective arm around me, his body on a slight angle as if shielding me from the human drinkers. Quickly, we went into the garage and into Emmett's jeep. As soon as I was seat-belted, Emmett stepped on the gas.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"We're going to Portland." Alice answered.

"What about Carlisle, Esme, Bella, Edward" I was panicking. Alice cut me off.

"Relax Verity, there's more than enough people left behind. We can handle James and Victoria, in fact, this should be too easy."

"Well why are we going some where else if this is 'too easy'!" I demanded, quoting her words.

"Cautious. We're just being cautious." Anthony said, stroking my hair. Usually, it would have calmed me down, but not today. I was fidgeting nervously and I couldn't keep still in my seat. "Will I need to distract you?" Anthony murmured against my ear. Without waiting for a reply, he pressed his lips against my neck. I froze. Slowly, he moved his lips further north, and stopped as soon as his lips met mine.

My breathing was embarrassing now. I was panting, my heat was drumming, and I couldn't stop. What was I worried about again?

He didn't let me recover. Soon, I blacked out.

--

I could feel the soft sheets against my skin. It was much too comfortable. What had happened?

Quickly, I opened my eyes. I was in a fancy looking room, and lying on a humongous bed. Immediately, I sat up. "Anthony? Alice? Emmett?" I called softly.

As quick as lightning, Alice appeared on my bed. "Hi Verity, how was your sleep?" She asked.

"Um, fine?" It sounded more like a question. Alice chuckled. "What happened? And where's Anthony?" I inquired.

"Well, while you were pashing Anthony," I blushed "you passed out. We got on the plane and right now, we're in Portland Star Hotel." She answered. It sounded innocent enough, too innocent. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Where's Anthony? And what did you edit on that little speech?" I glared.

She sighed. "Anthony had to distract you. Otherwise you wouldn't calm down. We bribed the airline and told them that you've drink too much that's why you've passed out. It was the only way we could have got on a plane. Anthony is," Alice hesitated "in Alaska. He was going to come, but apparently, one mind reader wasn't enough." She explained.

Clutching the sheets tight, I tried not to pass out. If the rest of the family needs him, then that means something has gone wrong. All because of me. "When will I see him again?" I whispered.

"Oh, a week at the most. Please relax Vicky, nothing had gone wrong. Carlisle just wants him back so Edward's job can be easier. Edward can watch James and Anthony Victoria." Alice gave me a hug, trying to comfort me.

"Ok." I mumbled. I knew I wasn't going to be relaxed any time soon.

"Theirs is nothing to be worried about. I promise. Now would you like something to eat?" She smiled.

"No thank you." The thought of food seemed ludicrous.

Alice frowned delicately. "You must eat something." She insisted.

"Fine. Some yogurt, then."

"What favor would you like?"

"Strawberry."

"Some strawberry yogurt coming up." Alice said in a 'waitress voice' as she left the room. I couldn't help but laugh a little.

A minute later, she was back, holding a tray with a tub of yogurt and a spoon.

"How did you get that so fast?" I asked.

"I made Emmett go out and buy some earlier. So you can have whatever you want. It's all in the fridge. There's even Asian food. Want to shrimp crackers?" She grinned.

Shuddering, I answered her. "I think yogurt would be fine."

Alice laughed.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 is dedicated to my best friend Verity, who I named Bella's beautiful twin after.

**Verity's POV**

I had spent the rest of the day lying in bed, thinking about Anthony. There wasn't much to do; going out wasn't allowed. Alice wanted to be extra precautious. That pretty much leaves my activity choices between manicure and pedicures with Alice or playing Playstation games with Emmett.

I stared at the ceiling – which as beautifully painted with patterns – and tried to find some pictures. This was something I did a lot as a child, except there weren't any fancy ceilings in Renee's house. Usually the activity would soothe me, if not at the very least distract me. But not that day. My mind was filled with 'what ifs' horror.

Alice burst into the room, holding a silver cell flip phone. "Bella wants to talk to you." Said she.

Smiling slightly, I took the phone from her hands and muttered my thanks. "Hey Bells." I said cheerily. A conversation to my twin sounded like the perfect thing to distract my mind.

"_Vicky! Oh how I had missed you! How are you?"_ Bella's voice came from the ear piece.

"I'm fine." I didn't want to have a discussion about the state of my mental health. "How's everyone?" I asked, knowing the question was more focused on my boyfriend.

"_Oh we're fine. Don't worry. Anthony is fine as well."_ Bella said. I breathed a sigh of relief. _"At the moment, James and Victoria are sharing a room in our house. They're planning to stay for two days. Carlisle is talking to them, with Anthony and Edward in the room. He's trying to persuade them to change diets."_

"Oh." As much as I disliked the thought of strangers – vampires with the human diet – living in our home, I knew it was necessary. If they do change diets, we could be saving a lot of human lives. For them, I could suffer another few days without seeing Anthony.

"_Oh, I have to go. Carlisle needs me. I don't know why, anyhow. I'll talk to you again soon! _There's nothing to be worried about."She whispered the last sentence.

"Thanks. Bye Bells." Silently, I shut the phone, placing it gently on the mattress. Trying hard not to fall back into the worrying mode again, I slammed my head against the pillow, resuming my 'fine-a-picture' game.

Alice stormed into the room, followed by Emmett, both with serious death looks on their face. "Who died?" I asked, trying to lighten up the tension.

Alice snatched the phone. "Sorry Verity, something has changed. I need to call Carlisle straight away." Said Alice, her tone dark. She dialed, and then held the phone to her ear.

"Carlisle…" She muttered. She began talking so fast that I couldn't understand the words. It was over within a minute.

"What will happen?" I demanded. "And you cannot expect me to be satisfied with a 'nothing is wrong Verity' after that."

Alice sighed. "Look, the visitors will leave soon. But I see James, standing in a dark room, setting up a video camera. And," She hesitated. "And, I see the Volturi. Coming to Alaska."

"What is the Volturi?" I questioned.

"They're the closest – in the vampire world – that's royal. They've got a small army of vampires, with gifts that makes mine look like a simple trick." Alice answered in an ominous tone.

"And they don't usually pay nice visits, do they?" I guessed. Neither of them replied. But they didn't need to; from their expressions I could tell that I had hit the point.

"Well, what do we do now?" I asked, slightly panicking.

"Nothing. Our job" She pointed at Emmett and herself " is to keep you safe. Our next move would completely depend on how they plan their next move."

Little did I know, I had assumed the wrong 'they'.

--

"Verity, there's a phone call from Bella for you." Alice said as she gave me the cell phone. "Say hi to her for me." A few seconds later, the phone began to ring.

"Hey Bella."

"_Hey Verity. Look, can we talk in a private room? I don't want Alice to hear this. Or Emmett. It's, um, something I want to talk to you privately about_." Bella said.

"Ok." I moved myself to one of the spare bedrooms, making myself comfortable on the bed. "What's up?"

"**Hi Verity, this is Victoria." **Said a disgustingly sweet voice. It was familiar. I froze. **"Now, don't go running to Alice or anyone else. If you do, I'll have your beloved Anthony turned into ashes within a week. You don't want that, do you?" She threatened.**

"What do you want? And how did you get Bella's phone? What did you do with Bella?" My voice was rising.

"**Be quiet! Lower your tone this instant, or I promise Anthony will be killed!"** Victoria snarled.

I took a deep breath. "Okay." My voice was quivering. "Please, let's cut this conversation short. What do you want?"

"**I've got more friends than you could imagine. Let's just make this clear; you will not try anything stupid. Okay?"** She said.

I cleared the lump out of my throat. "Yes." I whispered.

"**Good girl. Well, you see, James loves the smell of your blood. And I, as his mate, love to please him. I want your blood. You will not tell anyone of this conversation. Anything stupid will result in Anthony's death. We'll meet in Portland Music Studio. Tomorrow. Noon. Don't make me disappointed."** And she clicked.

My hand, shaking ever so slightly, I flipped the phone. I placed it against the bedside, and curled up under the sheets.

What kind of 'friends' could Victoria have? It is obvious that these 'friends' are vampires. Where can she have this many 'friends'?

The Volturi! Of course. The Volturi have a lot of vampires. It fits!

I realized, with a shrinking heart, that this is something not even the Cullen family could fix. This is something that only I can help. And I'm willing to do it, for Anthony, and our family.

But how could I leave Alice and Emmett without them noticing?

**Alice's POV**

(The next day, after the phone call with Victoria)

I was worried. I _am_ worried. From the moment I saw that vision, I knew something bad was going to happen. Not because I saw it in action, but that guts feeling – feeling of dread – which filled my body after the vision. I've had that feeling before, and I shuddered, as the outcome replayed for a fraction of a second in my mind. Quickly, I moved my mind to another topic.

Bella and Verity have brought so much light into our family. Our lives weren't horrible before, but it's like they've… _completed_ the family. Mostly of all, completed Edward, and completed Anthony. Although Edward and Bella are not officially 'together', but they will. I'd seen it and I knew they will. I also knew my brother too well; he's afraid of rejection and he thinks Bella's deserves better.

My brothers have smiled more, laughed more, and loosen up that stiffen pose which they always used to employ.

For that alone, I will do everything I can to keep my new sisters safe.

Forgetting my older brothers, _I_ had found new best friends. I'll admit I'm closer to Bella, even though our personalities seem to be the exact opposites. But hey, opposites attract, right?

Verity is closer to Rose. And I'm not really surprised. They both owned the 'don't-mess-with-me' attitude, although that part of Verity isn't as strong as Rose's.

Verity and Bella both don't see themselves very clearly, especially Bella. Both of them, before Bella became an immortal, they already owned looks that could compete with a vampire. I don't try to tell them that, because I'd already seen, that no matter how many times anyone tells them how amazing they look when they're human, they would not believe it.

A different vision hit me. No, vision wouldn't be the right word, a flicker would be better. It was that one again, the one that I've already saw, at least five times. Like all its previous ones, it was short. Two seconds, at the most. I can barely make out a girl, lying on the ground, screaming. I shuddered. It sounded oddly… familiar. I shrugged it off; it's probably some girl I met at high school who's planning to commit suicide. I've had too many of these situations before to care about this one. Besides, what can I do? Search for them over the countries and then tell them "Hi, my name is Alice, as you might remember. I'm a vampire and I had a vision that you were going to commit suicide. I'm here to stop you." I snorted; so not going to happen.

"Hey Alice." Emmett said as he seated himself on the couch.

"Hey. How's Verity?" I asked. I had asked Emmett to check on Verity. She's been acting very… odd lately after the last phone call with Bella. The one I had missed listening to, thanks to Emmett.

"She's asleep, or so it seems, under the couch." He replied.

"Oh." I felt bad; Verity had been stuck in the suite for a long time. She wasn't getting enough fresh air. Maybe, a walk in the park won't hurt...

"You know, she really needs some fresh air." Emmett said conversationally, like it was nothing. But I knew better; I wasn't the only one who had become to love our new sisters. Emmett was worried about her, just like I was.

I closed my eyes, and checked for any signs of trouble. It seemed to be fine. "I guess you can take her out now, maybe a walk in the park. It'll be cloudy for an hour this morning."

"Yeah." He jumped up enthusiastically.

"I'll just stay here; we don't want unnecessary attention." I said. Some precautions still needed to be taken.

"Ok." He headed towards Verity's room. I heard him asking Verity, and she replied yes. They began to head out. "Bye Alice." Emmett said.

"Bye Alice." Verity repeated. She was already out the door, but she hesitated, then walked back and gave me a hug. "See you later." She whispered, her voice almost… uncertain. As if she was uncertain that she will see me later.

I found this action oddly horrifying. However, I ignored my feelings, and hugged Verity back. She gave me a smile, and then left.

Little did I know, I should have trusted my instincts.

**Verity's POV**

Emmett led me to a park. Grinning, he stopped at the ice cream stand.

"Do you want some?" He asked.

"No thanks." I don't get how he can found me eating ice cream funny.

"Well, have some. I heard that it can make you feel better." He insisted.

"Have you been reading _Baby-Sitting 101 – for dummies_ again?"

"Yep." Without further discussion, he lined up, his favorite expression glued on his face. I was getting desperate; how will I escape?

Looking around, I saw a toilet not too far away. It wasn't really noticeable; mostly it was hidden by trees. That gave me an idea. At the same time, my throat clogged up; this will be the last time I see Emmett again.

I shook my head, trying to clear the emotions. There was no way I'd let my emotions get in the way, no matter how much this will hurt, both physically and emotionally. If my sacrifice meant the people I love could be safe, then it's worth it.

Clearing my throat, I faced Emmett. Luckily he didn't notice my sudden behavior; he was looking at the types of ice cream.

"Emmett, there's a bathroom over there. I'll be a minute. Do you mind?" I asked. Surprisingly there was no trace of emotion in my voice.

"No. What favor ice cream do you want?" He didn't object at all.

"Surprise me." I answered, and then quickly headed into the bathroom. He could take my speed as strongly needing the bathroom.

Luckily, the toilet was one of those old ones. I went into one cubicle, ignoring the smell, then stepped on the toilet seat, and jumped over the space where the light shined through. It was big enough.

Immediately, I began running, yet I tried to keep low profile. I saw a Taxi, so quickly, I ran over, and jumped into the back seat.

"Portland Music Studio." I puffed, then threw three twenties at the driver. "Is this enough? Hurry, please." I tried to remember my manners.

The driver looked at me, obviously suspicious. I probably looked like a runaway teen. Panicking, I into my pocket for more cash. But then he shrugged, and stepped on the gas.

Lids shut, I spent the entire car trip with Anthony. _I love you,_ I thought, telling him something which he'll never hear again.

"We're here kid." The Taxi driver told me.

"Thanks." Quickly, I stepped out of the car, and ran into the building.

It was a fairly new looking building. But I didn't pause to admire the building, although my mind screamed at me to do so; there wasn't enough time to waste, and I wasn't sure how what was the time.

I ran into a corridor, looking for a clock. Then, something – possibly a hand – hard gripped itself over my mouth, and something blind folded me.

"It's me. We're taking you somewhere. Keep quiet or else." Hissed that baby-soprano voice. It was too familiar.

**AN: Yes, I've shortened the chapters. This way, the next time I update will be about the same length. I think it's better, don't you?**

**Thanks for reading. Sorry for the wait and stuff. No I hadn't given up on writing Twolight.**

**Bella**


	13. Chapter 13

**Anthony's POV (He's at Forks)**

"My Verity." I sighed. Those two words flowed out of my mouth with no trouble, as if I was the one who was meant to say it.

"Hey, day dreaming again?" Jasper teased, slapping me on the back of my head.

"Like you can talk, Mr. I'll-affect-everyone-too-when-I-think-about-Alice." I said defensively.

He sighed. "This is for the family. Just think of it that way."

"I know. And that's what frustrates me the most. I cannot leave to go and see my Verity because this is for the family."

Jasper grinned. "_Your_ Verity, huh?"

"Shut up." I growled.

"Look, just don't think about her so much. It'll help."

"Thank you so much for the help." I said sarcastically.

He sighed again. _Stop being so irritating, Anth. It's not my fault. If anything, I'm loosing time with Alice._

"Sorry." I mumbled.

"It's okay, _bro_." He smiled, using Emmett's favorite phrase. "I challenge you in a game of Halo?"

"Ready to loose?" I grinned, naturally, for the first time in days. Jasper's right about one thing; I needed to stop thinking about her. A distraction was the perfect solution.

**Alice's POV **

Something was wrong.

I could feel it. And from the moment Verity was out of my sight, a different vision hit me every five minutes.

It was based on the same girl, screaming on the floor. One time she was covered in blood, not moving. Then, she was clean, lying on an old mattress, still screaming.

Something was very wrong.

But surely, Emmett was enough to protect our human sister. Surely, nothing will happen. They're only going for a walk, not visiting the Volturri!

Maybe I should ring Anthony…

**Verity's POV**

"_It's me. We're taking you somewhere. Keep quiet or else." Hissed that baby-soprano voice. _

I slipped into unconsciousness.

I didn't know why, possibly I was on a mental breakdown, or that funny scented powder which came off the female hunter's hands.

When I woke up, I found my body on an old looking mattress, and I felt really sick and dizzy.

Ungracefully twisting my body to a vertical position, I looked around. It seemed that I was in a recording studio; the walls were covered in form thingies, just like in the movies.

"Ahh, you're awake." Said a deep voice. I snapped my head in the direction of the voice, and immediately wished that I didn't. James was fingering a sharp-looking knife. I fought back a shiver as I realized what he could do with it.

"Look, you've won. Just keep your promise and kill me the easy way." The feeble strand of courage wasn't audible over the shaking of my voice.

"Well," he said, a look of mock consideration on his unusually plain face "yes. I could do that. But where is the fun in that?"

I fought back another shiver. Panic was overwhelming me, making it hard to speak. "What are you going to do?"

He smiled. "A few things, honey." He pointed at something. I looked, and what I saw made my knees go weak. "Do you really think that the game ends here? Where is the fun in _that_? Sorry, but they won't be able to resist hunting me after watching this, even at their own expense. I'm going to film your death." At this point, I was barely listening. Despair engulfed me. All the effects of protecting my family, gone. Even my death won't stop my family from getting hurt. Edward, Jasper, Esme, Carlisle, Emmett, Rose, Alice, Bella and Anthony's faces flashed across my mind. With the Volturri, James will be unstoppable. At this thought, my knees gave it away. James's grin widened.

"Well, I'm so glad that I started filming a few minutes ago. This would make your lover boy go mad." He said in satisfaction. "To make things even better, I think I shall explain what I did when you were unconscious, shall I?"

"Nooo," I croaked out. The hunter, of course, ignored me.

"Well, you see, I have two powers. I was careful to hide the second one during my stay at your home. Tracking is one, and the ability to cause physical pain."

At this point, the dizziness and sickness had disappeared. First, I was relieved, but then headache hit me. It got worse, and worse. I was determined to not make a noise, but that determination resolved as the pain spread to my neck. Desperate to be distracted from the agony, I scratched my skin.

"As you might be curious of, why did I stay at your house for so long, suffering wrenched lectures from _Carlisle_?" He snarled. "Easy. You are the biggest challenge I've had for a while. So much for a challenge. It's has been, what, few days?"

I was barely aware of the scent of blood in my agony, but that foul smell was enough to clear my head momentarily. James didn't have the control over thirst which most Cullens possessed. If I bleed, then he can't resist, could he? Instantly, I scratched harder.

His voice was no longer calm. "Stop. I said STOP!!" He shouted. Ignoring him, I scratched even harder.

As blood soaked my fingernails, I felt something icy grabbed me roughly. It reminded me of Anthony's touch, except this was no where near as gentle.

Stone and ice-like substance sank into my arm. Soon, the dizziness returned. I could felt myself slipping back into unconsciousness, and I yearned for it.

_Any minute now_, I thought with satisfaction. As darkness gripped me, I saw Anthony's heavenly face once more.

I love you, I thought. Somewhere, deep down in my mind, I heard his answering roar of grief.

**AN: Finally! This is up. God I'm so sorry for the delay, and trust me, I didn't mean to leave you all hanging there for so long. **

**THANK you ALL for reading. The special chapter will be added when the whole thing is finished.**

**Reviews make me smile. Anonymous reviews works as well. :)**


	14. Sorry

AN

Hey everyone

I woud like to say, I am EXTREMELY SORRY for not updating in God-know-how-long. At the moment, I'm on a huge writer's block. If ANYONE have ANY IDEAS, please please please please let me know.

Also, I would like to apologize to anyone who thought this is an update.

For this story, I've written a page. But I just can't think of anything else.

I'm going to China today. Not joking. So when I come back, I hope my email box will be full of suggestions. Please please help me out.

Lot's of love,

RainydayB

P.s. My email is shown on my profile, at the very top of the page.


	15. NEW Twolight is up!

AN: Retake of Twolight is up!

Hey everyone, firstly extremely sorry about crashing this story. But it was sort of a I-have-to kind of thing.

When I created the characters Verity and Anthony, they each came with their own personalities. And when I just couldn't write anymore, they died in my head as well. Therefore, it only seemed fair that I should create new charaters, with new personalities.

Hope you'll like Twolight; Retake. And I hope you'll trust me enough to review.

Bella.

P.s. The chapters are new longer too. lol don't I sound quite the advertisement person? lol


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